KKPNY Royal KPN NV (PK)

By Simon Zekaria

LONDON--Vodafone Group PLC (VOD) said on Thursday it has started legal action against Royal KPN NV (KKPNY), alleging its Dutch rival delayed by three years the introduction of Vodafone's competing suite of television, fixed-line broadband and fixed-line telephone services in the Netherlands.

Vodafone said the alleged delays qualified as an abuse of KPN's dominant position in its domestic market and resulted in an estimated 115 million euros ($126 million) in damages for Vodafone Netherlands.

"Vodafone Netherlands has lodged its claim with the court of justice in The Hague and asks initially for the court to confirm the unlawful behaviour of KPN," Vodafone said.

A former state telecoms monopoly, KPN owns and operates the Netherlands' only nationwide telephone network--using copper lines to connect households and businesses across the country--as well as the country's largest fibre-optic network. Other operators rely on this infrastructure to offer their services.

"The delays resulted in Vodafone Netherlands being unable to compete effectively with KPN and cable providers in the Dutch telecoms market until 2014," said Vodafone, the Newbury, England-based telecom group.

"We don't recognize [Vodafone's position]," said a KPN spokesman, in response to Vodafone's statement.

At 0830 GMT Vodafone shares were down 1 pence, or 0.42%, at 215 pence.

Write to Simon Zekaria at simon.zekaria@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 10, 2015 04:20 ET (09:20 GMT)

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