Unjustifiably expensive services? – Commission for Protection of Competition initiates procedure against SBB

The Commission for Protection of Competition announced that it had initiated the procedure of inspection of violation of competition in official capacity against Serbia Broadband – Srpske Kablovske Mreze SBB d.o.o. from Belgrade on March 27.

In the course of the procedure, the commission will examine if the said company, as the dominant cable operator, has set unjustifiably high prices, thereby taking undue advantage of its dominant position.

As explained, since the Commission conditionally approved the concentration of SBB and Ikom on March 23, 2017, it also set the requirements SBB needed to meet in the next two years. One of them is for the company to file a report to the Commission within 15 days of the date on which the retail prices of the basic media content service package are changed containing data on the change of the retail price of the basic package of the service of media content distribution, along with an explanation of the cause for the change of the prices.

– As SBB reached the decision in December 2017 to raise the prices of its packages by RSD 100 each, the Commission has decided to perform an analysis of the conditions of competition in the market of distribution of media content to the end of determining the justifiability of the increase of the price of SBB service – it is said.

The Commission, it is added, has also addressed SBB in writing, demanding clear and precise documentation of the causes of the price increase.

– As a company, SBB has not provided sufficient evidence of the cost validity of the fee of monthly maintenance of cable distribution system and cable TV of RSD 1,395, the Commission has initiated the procedure in order to determine whether the price of the service in question is unjustifiably high, which could lead to the exploitation of the users of this service through the imposition of an unjust retail price – it is said.

Komisija za zaštitu konkurencije Srbije

SBB d.o.o. Beograd

IKOM Beograd

SBB service price

Ikom

SBB service price increase

protection of competition

abuse of dominant position