The Financial Sanctions Committee (FSC) at the Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) has imposed a QR3.5mn financial sanction on Ooredoo Qatar for violating instructions issued by the authority.
The CRA informed this through a press statement on Saturday.
The authority published on its website on Saturday Decision No 1 of 2021 and Decision No 4 of 2021 of the FSC.
Under Decision No 1 of 2021, the FSC imposed on Ooredoo Qatar a "financial sanction for a total amount of QR2mn. The sanction results from Ooredoo’s non-compliance with the rules applicable to access and interconnection between licensed service providers, and more specifically to Ooredoo Qatar’s refusal to grant access to its international gateway facilities at Al Khessa Cable Landing Station and Ooredoo Data Centre 5".
Under Decision No 4 of 2021, the FSC imposed on Ooredoo Qatar a "financial sanction for a total amount of QR1.5mn. The
sanction relates to Ooredoo’s non-compliance with its obligations to file with CRA and get CRA's prior approval for tariffs for fixed telecom services and, therefore, for violating CRA’s instructions pertaining to customer protection and for violating the instructions pertaining to anti-competitive practices".
“Namely, Ooredoo’s lack of compliance prevents controlling the legality of Ooredoo’s offers on the fixed telecom market and prevents customers to be informed of offers existing in the market. Ultimately, Ooredoo’s behaviour misleads customers and prevents them from benefiting from the best prices,” CRA said in the statement.
The FSC was established based on the Council of Ministers' Decision No 14 of 2020. The committee is "competent to impose one or more of the financial sanctions that are set out in Schedule No 1 enclosed in the Telecommunications Law, on the licensees, in the event of committing a violation of the provisions of the Telecommunications Law, its executive regulation or the decisions and licences issued in the implementation thereof. Such imposition shall be on behaviours other than those provided for in Chapter 16 of the Telecommunications Law".