JSE-listed telecommunications group Telkom has received another fine from the Competition Commission for anticompetitive behaviour.

The commission said in a statement on Friday that an agreement had been reached with Telkom to settle the R200-million fine over a three-year period.

This followed a 2009 complaint from several internet service providers, including Internet Solutions, Multichoice Subscriber Management Services, Verizon and the Internet Service Providers Association, alleging that Telkom had abused its dominance between 2005 and 2007.

Telkom was accused of engaging in “margin squeeze”, charging excessive prices for high-bandwidth national transmission lines, undersea cable international lines and wholesale services to first-tier Internet service providers.

Telkom was also accused of refusing to give a competitor access to an essential facility when it was economically feasible to do so, engaging in exclusionary acts and selling services by forcing the buyer to accept a condition unrelated to the contract.

Besides the penalty, Telkom has agreed to a functional separation of its retail and wholesale divisions, the establishment of a transparent transfer pricing programme and the monitoring of future behaviour.

Further, the group was required to lower its wholesale service and related retail product prices over the next three years, enabling a saving of R875-million for the market, and facilitating a more competitive market.

Telkom would also ensure that any price reductions were not reversed in the 2017 and 2018 financial years.

The agreement was subject to confirmation by the Competition Tribunal.

Telkom was currently involved in several legal disputes regarding alleged anticompetitive practices.

Earlier this year, the company had settled a R449-million fine imposed on it, for which provision had been made in the previous financial year.

This followed the resolution, last year, of complaints from the South African Value-Added Network Services Association and Omnilink for anticompetitive practices.

The group had also made provision of R592-million during the 2013 financial year for the settlement of a long-standing dispute with the Competition Commission and other legal matters.

The company aimed to settle the outstanding Competition Commission claims and would divulge further information about the settlements, as well as other activities to reduce other monetary burdens, as it progressed.

Telkom posted significant losses for the year ended March 2013. The group recorded a 73.2% decline in headline earnings to 87c, as the group provided for legal matters, including the R592-million Competition Commission fine, and R434-million for voluntary severance packages.