MTN accused of price discrimination against Cell CSouth Africa’s Competition Commission has referred a complaint from mobile operator Cell C accusing rival MTN of price discrimination to the Competition Tribunal. Cell C’s complaint is over the interconnection fees charged by MTN for calls from Cell C Community Service Telephones (CSTs). South African operators are required to roll out CST services for collective use in under-served areas and charge lower interconnection rates for the services. According to Cell C, MTN has charged it a commercial interconnection rate while giving rival Vodacom the discounted rate. MTN had objected to the placement of CSTs by Cell C, alleging that Cell C had rolled out CSTs in areas which did not fall within the ambit of under-serviced areas. As a result, MTN is charging Cell C the commercial interconnection rate of ZAR 1.25 per minute during peak periods and ZAR 0.77 per minute during off-peak periods, and not the CST interconnection rate of ZAR 0.06 per minute. The Commission found that the conduct of MTN of charging Cell C the commercial interconnection rate in the same areas that it charges Vodacom CST rates amounts to price discrimination.
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