Mon, Feb 10 2014 9:56 pm
By Miriam Posada
Retrieved from La Jornada
The company Conecel, property of América Móvil, has contested the $138.5 million fine that was issued to it by Ecuador’s Superintendency for Control of Market Power, which accused Carlos Slim’s company of having exercised “abuse of market power” in 2012. Conecel announced that it would utilize appropriate legal resources in its defense.
In a statement, Conecel declared that the fine is unjustified and was a response to “a complaint by the state [mobile network] operator CNT EP regarding five plots of land (of the thousands that Conecel is lending) in which CNT EP claims that it hasn’t been able to expand its network. In the same areas that contain these five plots, there exist alternative options and plots, equally suitable for installing the required infrastructure. Therefore, there haven’t been any barriers to entry nor to competition for any operator.”
A company that operates in Ecuador as a filial of Conecel considered that “the magnitude of the fine is disproportionate, violating the constitutional principle of proportionality and affecting the legal safeguards that protect the processes of investment.”
“Conecel will utilize appropriate legal resources to ultimately arrive at a lawful resolution which is guaranteed by the due process under the law.”
