AlbanianEconomy.comYour News from Albania
Albanian Competition Authority starts formal investigation over mobile market
Authority started a formal investigation over competition conduct of
the two sole mobile operators in the country, Vodafone Albania and AMC
Albania.
a listening séance and declared the beginning of investigations,
stemmed by arguments in articles from a weekly newspaper ABC.
Another newspaper, daily Biznesi, had noted that Albanian contract
customers of Vodafone, in 2004, were paying three times more than their
Italian Vodafone counterparts.
According to Biznesi, Vodafone Albania customers pay EUR2340 each year,
as per year ending in 31 March 2005, meanwhile Italian customers were
reported as paying EUR922 for that same period”, Biznesi reported last
August.
Vodafone and AMC, for some time now, have been under continued
accusations regarding their noncompetitive conduct, mainly from media
and the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority. However, both
companies have continually denied these allegations.
At the end of 2004, AMC Albania customers were reported at 638,728 with
total revenues estimated at EUR121 million and a net profit of EUR35
million.
Meanwhile, Vodafone Albania was reported to have 648,000 customers as
of 31 March 2005. In 2004 total revenue was estimated at Lek 17
billion, (EUR137 million) with net profits at Lek4.4 billion (EUR35
million). Net profit margin was estimated at 25.9%.
Two years ago, the Albanian Telecommunications Regulatory Authority
declared AMC Albania as “operator with substantial market influence”,
(which opened up the way for a formal process to begin controlling
mobile operator charges). However, AMC sent the case to the courts
where it is still today.
