Outgoing Antitrust Authority director general Ronit Kan believes that there is no reason to prevent mobile carriers from cooperating in regulatory matters. In a letter to Minister of Communications Moshe Kahlon, she said that she saw no evidence that such collaboration harmed competition; therefore cancelling a cooperation agreement between them was legally weak.
However, regarding Kahlon's request to declare the mobile carriers a concentration group, Kan said that, on November 29, the Knesset approved a bill to amend the Antitrust Law, giving the Antitrust Authority the authority to declare the mobile carriers, among others, a concentration group, and regulate their operations. If the amendment passes, she will consider such a declaration.
Kahlon's request to Kan was made three weeks ago, after the three mobile carriers - Partner Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR), Pelephone Communications Ltd., and Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL) - raised their service charges, more or less simultaneously. Kahlon asked the Antitrust Authority to examine whether it was possible to prevent the carriers from cooperating on regulatory matters.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 12, 2010
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