Commission penalizes ArmenTel at AMD20mln upon Orange's complaint

State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition (SCPEC) of Armenia penalized ArmenTel at AMD20mln today.

The complaint against ArmenTel was filed by Orange Armenia, Mediamax reports.

The complaint noted that in September 2013, ArmenTel launched a new "Simpler than Simple" tariff plan. Orange Armenia stated that it's copied from its "Simple" tariff plan which had been patented in the Intellectual Property Agency back in 2011.

Orange Armenia thinks that ArmenTel's "Simpler than Simple" tariff plan misleads consumers due to the likeness to "Simple" tariff plan of their company.

Besides, Orange said that ArmenTel's advertisement of the tariff plan features billiard balls colored in orange and red which explicitly point to other mobile operators - Orange and VivaCell-MTS - which are the losing balls in the advertisement.

Orange Armenia noted that ArmenTel's conduct harms or may harm its reputation and business rating.

ArmenTel doesn't admit the violation. ArmenTel representatives weren't present at today's session of the Commission.

Considering the complaint, the SCPEC of Armenia concluded ArmenTel demonstrated unfair competition and it was fined at AMD20mln consequently.