OREANDA-NEWS. March 10, 2010. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) initiated a case "Dalsvyaz" OJSC for the signs of violating Clauses 1 and 6 Part 1 Article 10 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition" by fixing and maintaining monopolistically high prices for Internet access services and fixing different rates for the same products in the Far East Federal District, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

Having analyzed the rates set by "Dalsvyaz" OJSC, FAS Russia discovered that the rates for the Kamchatka regions exceeded the rates set for Moscow and St Petersburg by 350-1700 %, and the rates for the Sakhalin region exceeded that rates fixed for other towns of the Far East Federal District by 250%, and for Moscow and St Petersburg - by 1800-5100 %.

Analyzing the Internet access market, FAS Russia established that "Dalsvyaz" OJSC dominated the market in the Primorsky, Khabarovsk, Kamchatka, Magadan, Amur and Sakhalin regions.

FAS Russia is of the opinion that unjustified overcharging for Internet access services is unacceptable as it can infringe the interests of citizens of the Russian Federation, in particular, prevent exercising civil rights for receiving government services in an electronic form.

The case will be heard on 5th April 2010.