The Slovak Council of the Competition authority imposes significant fine for repeated abuse of dominant position by not granting access to essential facilities (Slovak Telecom)

I. Relevant facts In the following decision, the Slovak Antimonopoly Office (Office) concluded that Slovak Telecom (ST) abused its dominant position by not granting access to the essential facility of a local network. The office forbid the infringement and imposed a fine in the amount of SKK 885,000,000 (€ 29.4 M). ST appealed against this decision and also against the second instance decision to the court. II. Proceedings before the Office The Office initiated the investigation ex offo in 2005, because it had information about a possible abuse of the dominant position by ST. The market of access to a local network was qualified as the relevant market. A local network was defined as an extension-line or metal pipes in a fixed telephone network which connects the endpoint of a ST's