OREANDA-NEWS. February 08, 2010. Moscow Arbitration Court dismissed the claim of "Sibir'telecom" OJSC on invalidating a fine (over one million Rubles) imposed upon the company by the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) for breaching the antimonopoly law. Earlier "Sibir'telecom" OJSC executed the FAS Russia's determination and reduced the rates for subscriber connections by more than ten times, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

On 25th September 2009, FAS Russia fined "Sibir'telecom" OJSC 1,144,605 Rubles for abusing dominant position on the market of the services for access to subscriber lines in order to provide Internet access using xDSL technology (in violation of Part 1 Article 10 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition").

For instance, on 21st April 2009 FAS Russia investigated the petition of "Barnaul.ru" Ltd. and discovered that "Sibir'telecom" OJSC had overcharged the rates for joint use of a subscriber line and monthly fees for providers, when connecting their subscribers to the Internet, in comparison with the rates and monthly fees for providing Internet access for company's own subscribers using an existing subscriber line.

Based on the costs and profit analysis of "Sibir'telecom" OJSC providing these services, FAS Russia found that the company fixed monopolistically high prices: 2200 Rubles per line (at a lump sum) for connection and 250 Rubles per line (the monthly fee) for providing the service.

FAS Russia issued a determination to "Sibir'telecom" OJSC to eliminate the violations. The company executed the determination and reduced the connection rate from 2200 to 200 Rubles, and monthly payments from 250 to 110 Rubles.

Penal sanctions against "Sibir'telecom" OJSC could have been higher if the company failed to execute that FAS Russia's determination.