Volya vs. Antitrust Authorities: Price and Information Wars
The standoff between the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) and the cable internet provider Volia has been going on for months. However, in December, new accusations began to rain down on the provider—this time, accusations of a media campaign against antimonopoly authorities, a so-called "black PR campaign." The company doesn't want a government agency dictating its pricing terms and accusing it of monopoly (especially since Volia is another major broadband provider with a much larger market share). Meanwhile, the Antimonopoly Committee doesn't want online media coverage of the situation. The price standoff has become an informational one, and it's now difficult to determine who is right in this story. The only surprising thing is that the AMCU has decided to sweepingly accuse all online publications that published materials about this story, calling the articles "paid-for."
Back in the summer of this year, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine fined Volia-Cable 1 million hryvnias each for abusing its monopoly position and ordered them to reduce cable television tariffs. Later, the Kyiv Commercial Court dismissed Volia's claim to invalidate the antimonopoly authorities' actions. In turn, Voliastatedthat he plans to go to the appellate court, and the AMCUcontinued to insiston the reduction of tariffs of "Volya" andbringingthem to an economically justified level.
In mid-December, information appeared that the AMCUsuspects"Volya" in the information campaign against it. Antimonopoly authorities named the publications that organized the negative information campaign against the Committee. Among them are "Ura-inform," From-UA, "Vlasti.net," SKTU, ukr.net, gigamir.net, domik.net, My City, "Versii," komitet.net.ua, 40ka.com, mobilemarket.in.ua, VVnews, and ord-ua.com.
In response, Volya reported that such statements undermine the business reputation of both the company and the AMCU, after which Volya demanded an apology from the AMCU.
The latest exchange of blows between Volya and the AMCU was as follows: AMCUstarted checkingthe validity of the changes by the Volya company to tariffs for digital and analog television services, and Volya stated thatestablishmentThe AMCU should not be concerned about the prices for their services.
So, we're witnessing a standoff between one of the largest internet providers, a cable TV company, and the Antimonopoly Committee. The government agency exists to prevent major market players from dictating the rules of the game to everyone else. At the same time, the AMCU's statements regarding paid publications are dangerous because they set a precedent: similar claims could be brought by any party to any conflict in the future, blaming journalists and media outlets.
