LA JORNADA (MEXICO CITY)
By Miriam Posada
Monday, February 10th, 2014
The América Móvil owned company, Conecel, contested a $138.5 MM fine issued by Ecuador’s Superintendency for Control of Market Power, on the grounds that Slim’s company exercised “abuse of market power” in 2012, and announced that in its defense will exercise legal remedies as provided by law.
In a statement Conecel said that the fine is unjustified and it is in respond to “a complaint by the state operator CNT (Corporación Nacional de Comunicaciones) in regards to 5 pieces of land (from the thousands that Conecel leases) and in which CNT claims to be unable to expand its network. In the same zones where the 5 pieces of land are located, there are options and alternative lands, equally suited, where the required infrastructure could be installed. There has not been any indication of entry barrier; neither there has been a competition limitation for any operator.”
The company, which operates as a subsidiary of Claro, considered that “the magnitude of the fine is disproportionate and violates the constitutional principle of proportionality and it hinders the legal security that supports investment processes.”
“Conecel will exercise legal remedies as provided by law, in order to achieve a resolution in accordance with its right to ensure due process is guaranteed within a legal security framework.”
