Swisscom Fined $7.8 Million by Competition Commission

By John Revill

ZURICH - Swisscom AG (SCMN.VX) has been fined 7.9 million francs ($7.76 million) after Switzerland's competition commission said the telecom company had abused its dominant market position to win a contract and ramp up prices.

The competition commission, known by its German acronym of WEKO, imposed the fine following a bidding contest to supply broadband connections for Switzerland's postal service dating back to 2008.

In its offer, Swisscom charged wholesale broadband prices so high that rivals couldn't compete with the telecoms company's own bid, which was 30% cheaper than its rivals, WEKO said. In addition, Swisscom forced the postal service to pay inflated prices, WEKO said.

Swisscom denied the allegations of misconduct which it said were "incomprehensible," saying the postal service had struck a deal for large discounts during the negotiations. Swisscom said it would contest the ruling and the fine at the Swiss Federal Administrative Court.

"We believe that our conduct was correct," Swisscom's Chief Executive Urs Schaepp said in a statement. "We put a priority on compliance with the Federal Cartel Act."

Write to John Revill at john.revill@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 19, 2015 03:38 ET (08:38 GMT)

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