Swisscom Fined 220M Francs For Overcharging B'band

BERN, Switzerland (AP) — Switzerland's competition commission said Thursday it has fined Swisscom AG almost 220 million Swiss francs ($216 million) for overcharging its wholesale broadband customers.

Swisscom, the country's dominant telecoms company, set the price for wholesale ADSL connections so high that competitors, who depend on the company's network to reach customers, couldn't operate profitable broadband businesses, the regulator said.

The company lowered its prices for competitors — which include Sunrise, VTX and Green — at the start of 2008.

Swisscom immediately announced it would appeal the fine. The Federal Administrative Tribunal is due to rule on the case shortly, the company said.

Shares in Swisscom were up 0.1 percent at 369.50 francs ($363.03).

The competition commission fined Swisscom's cell phone provider Swisscom Mobile 333 million francs in 2007 for overcharging competitors on calls that concluded on its network.