EU court upholds antitrust fine against French telecommunications company News
EU court upholds antitrust fine against French telecommunications company

[JURIST] The European Union's Court of First Instance [official website] on Tuesday upheld [judgment text; press release, PDF] a 10.35 million euro fine imposed on telecommunications operator France Telecom [official website] by the European Commission for violating EU antitrust rules [EU materials] by charging consumers low prices for high-speed network access in an effort to stamp out rivals.

The company began charging consumers artificially low prices in March 2001 and continued until October 2002. According to the European Commission's 2003 decision, the company planned to make up for the loss by charging competitors high prices for access to the network. Reuters has more.