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Spain hits Apple and Amazon with €194M antitrust fine

Spain's competition watchdog said Tuesday it has slapped US tech giants Amazon and Apple with fines totalling 194 million euros ($218 million) for collusion in the sale of products.

Published: 19 July 2023 09:11 CEST
Spain hits Apple and Amazon with €194M antitrust fine
Tech giants like Apple and Amazon have been fined several times in recent years in Europe for violating competition laws. (Photo by LOIC VENANCE and Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP)

The two firms had agreed to limit the sale of Apple products on Amazon’s Spanish websites by third-party resellers “which restricted competition,” the regulator said in a statement.

Contractual provisions of a 2018 agreement between the companies meant only selected resellers picked by Apple were allowed to sell Apple products on Amazon.es, it added.

“Over 90 percent of resellers who used Amazon’s website in Spain to sell Apple products were excluded from Spain’s main online market,” the statement said.

The move “drastically” reduced competition between resellers of Apple products on Amazon’s Spanish platform, it added.

The result was an increase in the prices of Apple devices sold on Amazon.

The authority imposed a fine of €50.5 million on Amazon and €143.6 million on Apple.

The companies said at the time they reached their agreement to ensure all Apple products offered for sale on Amazon were genuine, after a number of counterfeit products were discovered.

Apple said it would appeal regulator’s decision.

“To protect users from security, safety, and quality risks created by counterfeit products, we have rules in place that have effectively reduced counterfeiting,” a company spokesperson told AFP.

Tech giants like Apple and Amazon have been fined several times in recent years in Europe for violating competition laws.

Italy hit Amazon with a fine of €1.1 billion in December 2021 for abusing its dominant market position while France slapped Apple with a fine of 371.6 million in October 2022.

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TECH

Spain’s broadband customers to be left without internet as fibre takes over

On Friday April 19th Spain will begin its total migration from ADSL to fibre optic, a measure which will leave 440,000 households in 7,440 municipalities across the country without internet. 

Published: 19 April 2024 11:30 CEST
Spain's broadband customers to be left without internet as fibre takes over

Spain is bidding farewell to broadband internet as it officially and completely moves over to fibre optic internet.

According to Spain’s National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC), there are still 440,000 ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) connections in use in Spain.

The technology was launched in the early 2000s and brought the internet to millions of Spanish homes and businesses, but in recent years it has fallen into disuse due to the relentless advance of fibre optic internet, which offers a more stable and faster internet connection. 

The gradual closure of Spain’s 8,526 copper exchanges, the material that allows ADSL connections in Spain, means that those who haven’t made the changeover already will be left without internet access soon.

Telefónica, which owns Movistar, will start cutting off its ADSL services on April 19th, Vodafone will do so in June and Orange is in the process of notifying its broadband customers. 

Most ADSL users have already been notified via text message, letter, email and fax, but there are still 7,440 municipalities across Spain, mostly rural ones, where broadband is still the primary source of internet.

Most of these are located in Castilla y León (38 percent); Castilla La Mancha (12 percent); the Valencia region (10 percent); Andalusia and Catalonia (9 percent); Madrid and La Rioja (5 percent); Cantabria and Galicia (3 percent), the Canary Islands, Asturias and the Balearic Islands (2 percent) and Murcia (1 percent).

“If you have contracted a copper product with any operator and your home is under the umbrella of one of the plants affected by the closure, you will have to switch to an alternative offer, probably with fibre or radio,” the CNMC has warned. 

“Your new installation will be completely free and you will also be able to keep your current phone number.”

Movistar has assured its broadband customers that if fibre optic internet isn’t an option for them, it will offer satellite or radio frequency internet access to them. 

Affected ADSL users should contact their service providers as soon as possible.

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