20.09.2004

TeliaSonera to change its wholesale pricing of mobile communications networks - Supreme Administrative Court dismissed the operator’s appeal

The Supreme Administrative Court today dismissed the appeal made by TeliaSonera Oyj concerning the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority’s (FICORA) decision of April 2001 on TeliaSonera’s mobile network prices i.e. interconnection fees. In its decision, the authority maintained that TeliaSonera’s fees were unreasonably high and the company was ordered to reduce its fees.

FICORA's decision was confirmed in a decision given by the Administrative Court of Helsinki in September 2002. TeliaSonera appealed against this decision to the Supreme Administrative Court because the company was of the opinion that FICORA had incorrectly estimated the bases of interconnection fees. The main controversy was over the method used for calculating the capital employed in the mobile network, which is critical in assessing whether the level of interconnection fees is reasonable.

The decision of the Supreme Administrative Court confirms the assessment methods used by FICORA to have been lawful. FICORA estimates that this is a significant preliminary ruling, which clarifies the assessment of reasonable wholesale pricing of all telecommunications networks. In future, the decision is estimated to have a generally positive impact on the pricing and competition in the mobile communications market at wholesale level.

TeliaSonera must submit, within a month, a new price list of interconnection fees to FICORA, as well as an account of the expenses on which the fees are based. Cooperation to enforce the decision has already been started with TeliaSonera.

Further information:
Jorma Koivunmaa, Director tel. +358 9 6966 820, mobile phone +358 40 569 5569 and
Johanna Juusela, Head of Economic Regulation, tel. +358 9 6966 878, mobile phone +358 40 542 7132.