By Ragnhild Kjetland - Dec 6, 2011 8:11 PM GMT+0700
Royal KPN NV (KPN) is among mobile-phone operators in the Netherlands visited today by the NMa competition authority as part of an investigation into possible antitrust violations.
KPN, the largest Dutch phone company, said in a statement that its headquarters were raided today by the NMa as part of a probe into “concerted practice with regard to mobile telecommunications offerings on the Dutch consumer market,” and “division of independent sales channels.” It said five KPN employees are being questioned and the company is cooperating fully.
T-Mobile is also cooperating fully with the investigation, spokesman Michael Vos said via phone, confirming a visit from the NMa this morning. “We are confident in the result,” he said, while declining to elaborate on the probe. Vodafone (VOD) Group Plc confirmed in a statement that it had been visited by the competition authority.
In October, the regulator lowered fines imposed on KPN, Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE)’s T-Mobile unit and Vodafone in 2002 for colluding on subsidies that they gave retailers on mobile-phone handsets, resulting in more expensive handsets for consumers.
KPN shares fell as much as 1.7 percent and were down 0.8 percent at 9 euros as of 1:38 p.m. in Amsterdam trading. Deutsche Telekom rose 0.1 percent to 9.19 euros in Frankfurt and Vodafone was 0.6 percent higher at 174.1 pence in London.
Paul Trienekens, an NMa spokesman, declined to comment on the details of the investigation.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ragnhild Kjetland in Frankfurt at rkjetland@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kenneth Wong at kwong11@bloomberg.net
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