Newsletter-21

135 COMPETITION LAW Board Decision on Türk Telekom and TTNet 10 A remarkable decision of the Board concerning price squeezing was rendered against Türk Telekom and TTNet A.Ş. (“TTNet”), which is a subsidiary of Türk Telekom. The Board imposed an administrative monetary fine of TRY 12.4 million upon Türk Telekom and TTNet, since this economic integration violated Art. 6 of Act No. 4054 by means of abusing its dominant position in the wholesale broadband internet access services by squeezing the margins in the retail broad- band internet access services. With regard to this decision, it is crucial that the Board clarified three factors in relation to price squeezing. The first of these factors is related to the means to calculate the insuffi- cient margin in price squeezing. Secondly, price squeezing is different from predatory pricing, and retail prices do not need to be predatory. Even if a predatory price cannot be determined, the determination of a price squeeze can be realized. Thirdly, the duration of the conduct should be taken into account in order to determine the price squeeze infringement. Additionally, as it was found related to the case in ques- tion, the Board referred to recent -relatively, as per the date of the said case- Telefónica and Deutsche Telekom decisions concluded by the Commission and the Court of First Instance, respectively. Board Decision on Turkcell Corporate Tariffs 11 Another significant decision of the Board regarding price squeez- ing is the Turkcell Corporate Tariffs pre-investigation decision. In this decision, the Board examined whether the input price by Turkcell İletişim Hizmetleri A.Ş. (“Turkcell”), which is the undertaking with the dominant position in the upstream market, applied to the other undertakings operating in the downstream retail market, is higher than its own retail price in the downstream market, or not. Additionally, the 10 Board Decision dated 19.11.2008 and numbered 08-65/1055-411, available at: http://www.rekabet.gov.tr/File/?path=ROOT%2f1%2fDocuments%2fGerek%25 c3%25a7eli%2bKurul%2bKarar%25c4%25b1%2fkarar2899.pdf (Accessed on: 07.12.2016). 11 Board Decision dated 04.07.2007 and numbered 07-56/634-216, available at: http://www.rekabet.gov.tr/File/?path=ROOT%2f1%2fDocuments%2fGerek%25 c3%25a7eli%2bKurul%2bKarar%25c4%25b1%2fkarar2070.pdf (Accessed on: 07.12.2016).