Author: Melsena Dangli
It doesn't matter if you are a Vodafone , ALBtelecom or ONE subscriber - you still have to pay at least 10 thousand old lek every month to have internet on your mobile phone and to continue communicating via SMS and minutes.
The three mobile companies operating in the Albanian market, which are supposed to be in competition with each other, seem to agree when it comes to increasing the rate of offers.
ACQJ monitoring shows that mobile phone company prices increased at the beginning of February by 200 lekë according to the dates, on January 30 for ALBtelecom , February 5 for Telekom and February 11 for Vodafone.
The increase in the price of monthly packages by all three mobile operators by 200 lek and the increase in the cost of recharge from 100 to 200 lek brought the reaction of consumers and the media and then the intervention of the Competition Authority, which took the decision to restore the initial fees.
In February 2020, the Competition Commission at the Competition Authority decided to immediately discontinue the application of new standard 30-day prepaid packages for the companies Vodafone Albania , Telekom Albania and ALBtelecom.
According to INSTAT, the average salary in Albania is 400 euros, the lowest of all countries in the region. The highest is in Montenegro (765 euros), Serbia (644 euros), North Macedonia (591 euros) and the penultimate Kosovo (528 euros). These figures also reinforce the calculations of the International Monetary Fund, which rank Albania as the country with the lowest average monthly salary in the Balkan region. But, if we compare the rates of the offers with the countries of the region, it turns out that: the citizens of Kosovo spend on average 5 euros per month, the citizens of North Macedonia 7 euros, the citizens of Montenegro 6 euros and the citizens of Serbia about 10 euros.
Given that mobile offers are a constant expense that worries citizens, ACQJ has conducted an observation on the offers of three mobile companies operating in the Albanian market, ALBtelecom , ONE and Vodafone.
At all three companies, standard daily packages cost 150 lek, while standard weekly packages cost 500 lek. The 4 standard monthly packages at ALBtelecom cost 900, 1300, 1500 and 2100 lek. The 4 standard packages at ONE cost 1000, 1400, 1600 and 2200 lek. Vodafone 's standard packages cost 1000, 1400, 1700 and 2200 lek.
The observation shows that the three mobile companies operate in the market with almost the same prices that differ by 100 ALL.
Is this an indication that ALBtelecom , Telekom ( ONE ) and Vodafone are monopolies in the mobile phone market and follow anti-competitive practices?
We have asked the Competition Authority if there have been complaints about these practices.
According to the CA, anti-competitive behavior focused on the violation of articles 4 (Prohibited tacit agreements) and 9 (Abuse of a dominant position in the market) of law no. 9121, dated 28.07.2003 "On the Protection of Competition", amended.
Since the offers and prices offered by all three mobile companies are almost the same, they contradict what Margrethe Vestager , the Commissioner for Competition, says: "I think fair competition is not only one of the foundations of the European Union, but also of free trade."
Based on the European Commission's guidance on Significant Market Power (May 2018), it results that the retail mobile market has competition problems, where Vodafone Albania has a market share of over 50% for many indicators and the application of tariffs is observed in the market, which negatively affect the sustainability of competition between operators.
The exit of the operator Plus Communication from the market changed the market structure as of January 1, 2018 from 4 (four) to 3 (three) operators, continuing the upward trend of the market concentration index, and moreover, the two entrepreneurs with the largest market share have significantly increased their competitive capacities by obtaining 50% with 50% of the rights to use the frequencies they owned in use, deepening the comparative advantage of the first entrants to the market.
According to an analysis conducted by AKEP, in addition to the financial, technical and legal-procedural barriers to market entry, the exit from the market of the last entrant, Plus Communication (which offered lower tariffs than the other 3 operators), is a significant barrier for any new entrant to the market. Under these conditions, it is difficult for new entrants to occur without regulatory intervention, since for about nine years Plus Communication was the last entrant to the market and now, after the transfer of frequencies to the two operators, Vodafone and Telekom Albania , the last entrant has exited the market and the market structure has changed towards increased concentration and dominance of the market leader/the two operators with the largest market share.
This is another indication that the 3 mobile companies are owning the free market and other competitors are finding it difficult to penetrate and survive in the same market.
