HELSINKI, Finland—Danish competition officials, reacting to confidential information of cartel arrangements within the mobile telephone sector, have staged raids on the head offices of the country’s largest mobile phone operators, including TDC, Orange, Sonofon and Telia Danmark.
Regulators confirmed they are investigating claims that operators are improperly engaged in vertical and horizontal cartels, with illegal agreements covering mobile subscription prices and handsets. Sonofon is jointly owned by Norway’s Telenor and U.S. telecom company BellSouth.
TDC, Telia, Sonofon, and Orange all protested the raids. However, Danish investigators believe they can assemble sufficient evidence to prove that cartel arrangements exist and have been used to restrict competition and maintain artificially high tariffs.
“We are working on the suspicion about competition breaches have been made by the telecom companies we visited,” said Finn Lauritzen, chief director of the Danish Competition Authority.
