ON MEASURES TAKEN IN THE MOBILE SERVICES MARKET

The agency for the protection and development of competition of the Republic of Kazakhstan analyzed the conditions of tariff plans and the dynamics of changes in prices for mobile services this year as part of the consideration of subscribers ' requests to increase prices. It was found that in 2023, a significant increase in prices for tariff plans of mobile operators was recorded from 7.7% to 57.3%.

                 Thus, only in the period from May to July 2023, mobile operators published information on their official websites, one by one increasing the cost of services provided on more than 30 tariff plans with a monthly subscription fee.

                 In this regard, in connection with the redefinition of signs of coordinated anti-competitive actions in one calendar year, taking into account paragraph 3 of Article 199 of the business code, the agency has launched an investigation under Article 170 of the business code against mobile operators Kcell JSC, MT-s LLP (Tele2/Altel) and KAR-Tel LLP (Beeline).

                  In addition, earlier the agency revealed signs of coordinated anti-competitive actions (Article 170 of the business code) in the actions of mobile operators to establish the cost of calls in one-minute conversations and one SMS on tariff plans (provided for the tariff of services per unit).  In this regard, a notification was sent to mobile operators about the termination of the established signs by reasonably reducing prices.

                In case of failure to comply with the notification by mobile operators within the established time frame, the agency will also decide to conduct an investigation.