Page 4 - Bulletin No. 23 - Free Competition

BULLETIN
4 / PRESENT
Free Competition
PANAMA
Case against COSTA DEL ESTE INFRASTRUCTURE, INC.

The National Authority of Public Services by Resolution
AN No. 1630-Telco of April 21, 2008 (Resolution 1630),
which adopts special measures related to the right of
users to access services public telecommunications orders
all telecommunication public service concessionaires to
refrain from entering into agreements, contracts or
agreements with building developers, business premises
owners and executive boards and / or assemblies of
owners of horizontal properties or with any natural or
legal person that have the purpose of granting exclusive
rights for the provision of such services or grant the
administration of the telecommunications infrastructure
of buildings with powers that allow limiting the access of
other concessionaires to these facilities.

Regarding the relevant market, this is defined as “the
The National Direction of Free COompetition (hereinafter access service to all telecommunicatins networks and the
DNLC), of ACODECO started by complaint, by the legal elements and of the civil works that support them
representative of the company INTERFAST PANAMA, a necessary for the installation of the optical fiber present in
telecommunication service concessionaire, a preliminary the P.H. Plaza del Este and the P.H. Originario Residencial
investigation against COSTA DEL ESTE INFRASTRUCTURE, Santa María”.
INC. (CEI), for the alleged commission of relative
monopolistic practices, contained in Law 45 of October Taking into consideration that theset of
31, 2007 (hereinafter Law 45), to the detriment of telecommunication networks and the elements of the
INTERFAST and its clients. civil works that support them, installed in buildings,
commercial premises, and / or horizontal properties,
Based on the documentation provided to the file, the constitute common telecommunications infrastructures,
DNLC considered that there were indications of the declared as essential facilities by Resolution 1630, and
posible realization of a relative monopolistic practice, by that this essential facility was the one that could be
the economic agents CEI Inmobiliaria Plaza del Este, S. A. subject to some type of restrictions.
and Ideal Living Corp., through an exclusivity agreement
that would be unreasonably preventing access to an The investigation and documentation in the file do not
essential facility to potential competitors in the market. show actions by the economic agents investigated, in the
direction of preventing or restricting access to the P.H.
Through Resolution No. DNLC HCE-028-17 of September Plaza del Este and P.H. Originario Residencial Santa María
19, 2017, the DNLC decided to order the official opening to the company INTERFAST, but quite the opposite;
of the administrative investigation by the alleged INTERFAST's refusal to sign a commercial agreement for
commission of relative monopolistic practice, against CEI, access to the pipelines of this P.H. if they have to pay for
Inmobiliaria Plaza del Este, S.A. and Ideal Living Corp., access.
violation of numeral 9, article 16 of Law 45, which states,
“In general, any act that unreasonably damages or For the reasons stated, the DNLC through Resolution No.
prevents the process of free economic competition and DNLC-MAC-020-19 of December 19, 2019 orders the
the free participation in the production, processing, closing and filing of the administrative file for not having
distribution, supply or marketing of goods or services ”. sufficient evidence to prove the violation of numeral 9 of
the article 16 of Law 45.