Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
European antitrust regulators have confirmed that they are investigating a possible cartel operation among LCD panel display makers, and that the cartel conduct may extend across the globe.
The competition regulator – the European Commission – has confirmed
that it is cooperating with regulators in the US, Canada
and Japan, and there is a suggestion the Australian regulator may also
have been in contact with European counterparts.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which
routinely maintains a watching brief on offshore incidents but will not
comment on active investigations, declined to make any comment
regarding the EC investigation of LCD panel cartel.
It is a bad time to be in the cartel business in Australia, with
changes to the law that will soon make the operation of a cartel
punishable by a jail term for the first time – up to 10 years. The new
criminal law comes into effect on July 24.
The product under European Commission investigation is the main
component in the super-slim, flat displays used in consumer devices
ranging from mobile phones to iPods to TV and computer monitors.
The EC confirmed that it had sent a Statement of Objections – a kind of
official notification of investigation – to a number of companies, but
declined to say which companies were being targeted.
Dutch giant Philips is the only company to so far have outed itself,
denying the allegation in a second quarter profit statement issued on
Monday and saying it would “vigorously oppose” the compaint.
While the fines for cartel operations can be steep for corporations at
up to 10 per cent of global sales, there is no criminal law in Europe
against cartel operators.
The Commission said the Statement of Obljections had been sent to the
companies in May. They now have two months to set out in writing all
known facts relevant to its defence against the objections. They can
also ask for a hearing.
David Bass
| For the fourth year in a row, IDC has placed content security provider Websense (NASDAQ: WBSN) at the top of the IDC Worldwide Web Security 2011 –…
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