Czechia

[CZ] Large fine for M7 Group

IRIS 2015-9:1/8

Jan Fučík

Česká televize

In its monitoring report of June 2015, the Czech Telecom Office (CTU) announced that it has fined the M7 Group, which operates the DTH platforms Skylink and the CS Link, CZK 9.5 million (EUR 350,660) for failing to inform the regulator about the commencement of its activities in the country.

The Czech law requires the providers of electronic communication services to register the start of their activities with the CTU. The Group M7 is one of the major service providers of electronic communications in the Czech Republic. Its services are distributed by Astra and received by one tenth of the country’s population. The company performs communication activities in the Czech Republic since 1 January 2013, but only met its reporting obligation last year on 28 May 2014.

In a statement the CTU says that the amount of the fine reflects the seriousness of the offence and the duration in which the company carried out its communication activities without authorisation. Furthermore, the long-term illegal status had a significantly negative affect on the statistical data for the years 2013 and 2014 which was dealt with not only by the CTU, but also by other government authorities, the judiciary, international organizations, and the European Union.

The M7 Group has defended itself by saying that it acted in good faith and on the basis of the belief that it was no “electronic communication service” as defined by Article 2 lit c of the European Framework Directive (2002/21/EC), since it only provided content. Therefore, it believed it was not obligated to inform the regulator about the commencement of its activities.