Portugal Telecom announces that today the Lisbon Commerce Court has ruled entirely in favour of the appeal lodged by PT Comunicações against the Portuguese Competition Authority’s decision of 1 August 2007, which had condemned PT Comunicações in the payment of a fine amounting to Euro 38 million for allegedly refusing, without an objective justification, to grant access to certain sections of its duct system by TV Tel and Cabovisão.
Therefore, PT Comunicações has been cleared from the accusation, a decision that may be appealed, of an infringement of competition rules, notably of abusing a dominant position.
The Lisbon Commerce Court concluded that there was no evidence that the ducts belonging to PT Comunicações were essential facilities insofar as without access thereof it would be impossible for competitors to supply pay-TV, Internet access and fixed line telephone services.
The Court also ruled that, even if the ducts had been found to constitute essential facilities, there was no proof that the refusals to grant access thereto were unjustified or discriminatory.
The Court further held that as a result it was not established that the refusal to grant access to those particular sections of ducts had illegitimately precluded other competitors, namely TV Tel and Cabovisão, from developing their own networks and from supplying telecommunications services.