France's Competition Council has ruled that Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom allegedly shared commercial information about the mobile market between 1997 and 2003, which led to price fixing. Orange France must pay about $302 million in fines, while SFR must pay nearly $260 million and Bouygues about $68 million. The companies have denied the allegations that they shared information and fixed their prices. France Telecom owns Orange and Vivendi Universal owns SFR. France Telecom is currently appealing an €80 million fine for allegedly barring access to the wholesale broadband market.
For more on the carriers alleged price fixing:
- see this article from the BBC