After a preliminary confidential investigation carried out on its own initiative, the Investigations Division of the CNC opened formal proceedings on 17 January 2011 against Telefónica Móviles de España, S.A.U., Vodafone España, S.A.U. and France Telecom España, S.A. (the "Operators") for a possible abuse of a dominant position, prohibited by article 2 of the Spanish Competition Act and Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union ('TFEU').
The information on the case file disclosed prima facie evidence of the fact that the Operators may have applied excessive prices for wholesale origination and termination services for short SMS and MMS messages within the national territory on their mobile telephony networks.
Wholesale origination and termination services are interconnection services that mobile operators with their own access network provide to virtual mobile operators to which they offer host operator services.
The opening of the proceedings does not pre-judge the final outcome of the investigations. The CNC now has up to a maximum period of 18 months to investigate the case and issue a decision.
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