NMa: No infringement KPN in use of customer call data, improvements have been introduced

The Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa) has not found any indications that KPN uses customer call data in a way that contravenes the Competition Act. Therefore, the NMa does not establish an infringement. However, as a result of NMa enforcement activity, KPN will improve its internal walling off of customer call data, these being sensitive from the perspective of competition. Meanwhile, the telecommunications company has introduced stricter internal procedures regulating access to customer call data. KPN has also intensified internal communications on the subject of walling off such data.

KPN is active as an infrastructure operator (fixed network) and provides telephony services. Companies competing with KPN often provide fixed telephony services to their customers via KPN's network. In this way, KPN has access to call data pertaining to their competitor's customers. This concerns information on, for instance, call duration. Divisions of KPN that provide telephony services, should not be allowed access to these data, as they might employ these to serve their own marketing ends. This would yield an unfair competitive advantage, resulting from infrastructure ownership.

The NMa started its enforcement activity on the basis of signals from the market. The media and communications sector constitutes a priority in NMa policy. The NMa will therefore remain alert and cooperates with the Independent Post and Telecommunications Authority (OPTA) in carrying out its competition enforcement policy in the telecommunications sector.