Investigation conducted to find whether Türk Telekomünikasyon A.Ş. (TTAŞ) violated the Act no 4054 on the Protection of Competition by setting the retail tariffs for end users below the wholesale tariffs for long distance telephone service operators was concluded.

The investigation started after 13^th Chamber of the Council of State annulled the Board decision dated 11.09.2008 and numbered 08-52/792-321 concerning the same issue.  The Board decision in question concluded that TTAŞ's wholesale and retail tariffs were determined/confirmed by Telecommunications Authority (now Information and Communications Technologies Authority- ICTA); therefore no proceeding could be made within the framework of the Act no 4054 and an investigation shall not be opened on TTAŞ.

Afterwards, the complainant Free Telecommunications Operators Association resorted to jurisdiction. The 13^th Chamber of the Council of State annulled the Board decision on 08.05.2012 with its decision numbered 2008/14245 E., 2012/960 K.

The decision of the 13^th Chamber of the Council of State evaluated the limits of duty areas of regulatory authorities and the Competition Authority and emphasized that the tariffs were confirmed and/or determined by ICTA but ICTA did not make any concrete proceedings about the applications concerning price squeezing; there were not any provisions about detecting price squeezing and imposing sanctions in the regulations and relevant legislation effective at the time of the decision related to tariffs; therefore it was possible that TTAŞ might cause price squeezing by means of price discounts. 

Moreover, it was stated that exemption from the Act no 4054 on the grounds that the practices were the result of the tariffs confirmed/determined by ICTA, might result in the failure of imposing sanctions on potential competition infringements, if the existence of the conduct notified and the fact that it constituted abuse of dominant position were proven or concrete evidence to this end was obtained, there were not any obstacles in front of the Competition Board to initiate an investigation and impose sanctions in case an infringement was detected.

Afterwards, a preliminary inquiry and consequently an investigation was initiated. The investigation examined long distance telephone service costs and the costs of alternative operators and made income-cost comparisons.

As a result of the discussion of the contents of the file by the Competition Board on 22.01.2014, it was decided unanimously that Türk Telekomünikasyon A.Ş. did not violate article 6 of the Act no 4054 on the Protection of Competition by setting the retail tariffs for end users below the wholesale tariffs for long distance telephone service operators

Click here for the text of the pronouncement (in Turkish) dated 22.01.2014 and numbered 14-04/81-34, the reasoned decision for which will be notified later and which can be appealed before Ankara Administrative Courts.