JOHANNESBURG - The Competition Commission has initiated an investigation against Vodacom Group for abuse of dominance after the telecommunications company secured an exclusive contract with National Treasury to be the sole provider of mobile telecommunication services to the government, the Commission said today.
"Before Vodacom entered into the exclusive four-year agreement with National Treasury, all government departments could purchase mobile telecommunication services from any mobile network operator," the Commission said today.
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The antitrust body said it had information that there were 20 government departments which would be subjected to the new Vodacom contract. Other departments, including state owned entities and municipalities, would be incentivised to adopt the new contract.
"The Commission has reasonable grounds to suspect that the exclusive contract may constitute an exclusionary abuse of dominance by Vodacom in contravention of the Competition Act," the Commission said.