TIRANA, Sept. 26 – Albania’s Competition Authority has failed to find evidence of an alleged price-fixing deal in the country’s mobile communications market following a probe into the main three operators as they almost simultaneously increased subscriber costs during the past one and a half years.
The Competition Authority says the cut in standard pre-paid packages to 28 days, down from a previous 30 days and the increase in package fees for pre-paid mobile users accounting for the overwhelming majority of total subscribers has led to a considerable increase in costs.
The conclusion is made under a recent decision following a preliminary probe launched last May over alleged abuse of dominant position by the main three foreign-owned mobile operators covering the January 2016 to May 2017 period.
In March 2016, the country’s main three mobile operators Vodafone, Telekom Albania and Albtelecom cut their monthly pre-paid packages to 28 days, down from a previous 30 days, indirectly increasing costs for prepaid users who account for the overwhelming majority of 92 percent of active mobile subscribers.
The Competition Authority says the reduction in the validity of standard packages by all three operators in the course of eight days led to consumers being charged for 13 months a years instead of 12 months, leading to 6.5 percent annual increase costs incurred by consumers for this service.
“The above behavior could be explained with the oligopolistic interrelation where enterprises adjust their strategy in the frame of full information toward other competitors and their effects in units and tariffs,” said the watchdog, adding that no direct or indirect evidence was found that could prove the change was a result of a banned deal or coordinated behavior.
A year later, in March 2017, the three main mobile operators changed the key standard packages in the course of 2 weeks in common changes that lifted unlimited internet at reduced speed and cut international airtime.
Pre-paid 28-day standard bundles offering a mix of national minutes, text messages and internet access, increased by 100 lek to 1,110 lek (€8) in all three main operators, Vodafone, Telekom Albania and Albtelecom.
The three mobile operators changed the standard packages shifting to unified tariffs and unit numbers on some packages, but no evidence was found proving the change was a result of a banned deal or coordinated behavior, said the watchdog.
Electronic communications authorities are worried offering packages at a predetermined tariff for all package units and not in detailed prices for every element of it such as airtime, text messages and megabytes creates confusion for consumers.
Standard packages offered by mobile operators provide no information to consumers regarding the unit price for their elements, stripping them of the opportunity to select the package that best suits their needs.
The Competition Authority recommends both the Electronic Communications Authority and the Consumer Protection Commission obliging mobile operators to increase consumer transparency by publishing prices for every unit in their packages and inform authorities before applying changes in tariffs and packages.
The competition watchdog has requested the Consumer Protection Commission to monitor the mobile market for another year starting October 2017.
Plus Communication, the only Albanian-owned operator, with a market share of 5 percent was not involved in the probe as it has kept its 30-day package unchanged in a bid to attract new subs;cribers and compensate for its network coverage and internet access limitations in some parts of the country.
The competition watchdog has earlier warned the mobile phone market has the structure of an “oligopoly market with an operator having a dominant position in the respective retail mobile services and two other operators having stable market shares.”
Albania’s mobile operators struggled to significantly increase their income for the fourth year in a row amid tougher competition leading to lower rates and increasing use of smartphone apps replacing traditional call and text message services.
Mobile operators’ revenue slightly rose by 2.4 percent to 33.9 billion lek (€250 million) in 2016 after hitting a decade-low in 2014, according to a report by the electronic communications regulator, AKEP.
Latest 2016 data shows leading Vodafone Albania operator, part of UK-based giant Vodafone Group, continues dominating the mobile market with 48.6 percent market share in terms of revenue, followed by Telekom Albania (former AMC), part of German Deutsche Telekom with 30.7 percent, Turkish-owned Albtelecom with about 12 percent, and Albanian-owned Plus Communication with 5 percent share.
The number of active mobile phone users, defined as those that have made or received at least a call or SMS in the last three months, slightly dropped to 3.4 million. About half of the active users, some 1.7 million subscribers had access to 3G and 4G services.
In its annual report, AKEP said pre-paid subscribers not using promotional offers face tariffs up to 14 times higher than the average rates of 2.83 lek (€0.02) /minute VAT included for 2016.
