The Competition Tribunal ruled in favor of Voissnet S.A., in lawsuits against Compañía de Telecomunicaciones de Chile S.A. (TCH). The latter was sentenced to pay a fine of 5,000 Annual Tributary Units (around US$ 4,2 million).
In its ruling, the Tribunal determined that TCH infringed the letter b) of Article # 3 of the Competition Act (Decree Law # 211), by contractually conditioning access to broadband internet to hiring telephone services, and also tying to that bundle a certain amount of minutes worth of voice traffic. These minutes had implicit negative prices, therefore this conduct was deemed apt to exude competitors in the market of telephone services.
The Competition Tribunal also ordered TCH to offer every service of the bundles it offers separately as well. Therefore, and as long as TCH is a dominant provider of broadband services, it cannot tie any product or service to it, having to offer “naked” broadband services. Also, the defendant has to set prices for its bundles, which must be at least greater than the price of the service of greater value of the bundle. That way, these prices cannot restrict free competition.
Finally, and as a way of harmonizing sector laws with the competition law that has been applied in this ruling, the Competition Tribunal suggested new sector laws, that force every telecommunications firm to offer each product separately, and not exclusively as bundles.