In an effort to spur competition, Argentine anti-trust authorities ordered Telecom Italia to sell its telephone holdings in the country to prevent Spain’s Telefonica from dominating the local market. More specifically, the Italian company has been given one year to sell its 50% stake in Sofora, the holding company that controls Telecom Argentina.
According to the National Commission for the Defense of Competition (CNDC), Telefonica has assumed a “dominant position” in the market, noting that the Spanish group controls Telefonica Argentina and through its stake in Telecom Italia, also has an indirect stake in rival operator Telecom Argentina.
Of course, Telecom Italia denied that Telefonica’s minority stake in the telco consortium — which in turn owns 24.5% of the Italian company — has no impact on the Argentine market…
[Via: CellularNews]