The Age newspaper reports that Telstra
(ASX:TLS) is calling on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to drastically lower the fine its pushing on Telco from $40 million to about $4 million for accidently excluding competitor's broadband servers from telephone exchanges over two years.
The ACCC claims Telstra indulged in anti-competitive behaviour when it rejected 27 applications from rivals at seven different exchanges between 2006 and 2008.
The competition watchdog has asked Justice John Middleton to fine Telstra $40 million, or a discounted $34 million, to account for Telstra's behaviour.
The highest fine ever handed out for anti-competitive behaviour was Visy’s $36 million fine in 2007.
Telstra argues that poor supervision rather than a deliberate corporate policy allowed its wholesale staff to reject applications from competitors who wanted to install broadband equipment in Telstra exchanges, even though there was enough space for the equipment.
Telstra's net profit for the year to June 30, 2009 was just over $4 billion.
