Ooredoo Qatar fined for ‘anti-competitive’ behaviour

Ooredoo Qatar has been fined QAR3.5 million (USD950,000) for ‘anti-competitive’ conduct by the Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA), which judged that the telco violated instructions regarding free access and customer protection rights, DohaNews reports. Ooredoo was fined QAR2.0 million for refusing to grant access to its international gateway facility at Al Kheesa Cable Landing Station and Ooredoo Data Centre 5, breaching access rights and interconnection between licensed service providers, thereby hindering the development of competition, the CRA ruled. Ooredoo was additionally fined QAR1.5 million for failure to seek prior approval from the CRA for its fixed telecom services tariffs, transgressing customer protection regulations.