Fixed-line giant Telmex faces a fine of 657 million pesos (some $52 million) for monopolistic practices, Mexico’s Federal Competition Commission, or CFC, said Thursday.
The fine was imposed after the company deliberately refused from August 2009 to June 2011 to provide competitor Axtel with access to its dedicated links in 32 cities and six inter-urban routes, the CFC said in a statement.
It added that that denial of service inhibited Axtel’s ability to provide local, long-distance and value-added services to end users.
The violation was very serious and intentional and Telmex is a repeat offender, the CFC said.
The regulator noted that Telmex, owned by multibillionaire Carlos Slim, “has substantial market power in local and long-distance dedicated links” as the fixed-line incumbent.
Due to the “high entry barriers for building this type of infrastructure, ... Telmex’s concession title includes the obligation to provide the service of leasing dedicated links” for local and domestic and international long-distance calls.
In April 2011, the CFC imposed a fine of roughly $994 million on the Mexican arm of regional wireless titan America Movil - also controlled by Slim - for charging its competitors interconnection fees that were higher than the implied charges for calls placed on its own network.
