Greece’s telecoms regulator (EETT) has fined the country’s largest phone group OTE a total of 9 million euros ($14.2 million) for breaching competition rules, the watchdog said yesterday. OTE, which is partly owned by Deutsche Telekom, was fined after the former phone monopoly’s main fixed-line competitor Tellas complained to the regulator it did not have fair access to the national network to provide its customers with new products. “EETT ruled that OTE, with its position as the exclusive network provider, violated open access laws,” the regulator said in a statement on its website. “The result was that Tellas had to suspend its commercial promotion of its product.” OTE officials were not immediately available for comment. Tellas, owned by Wind Telecoms, wanted to offer “double-play” packages, or combined fixed-line and Internet services, but delayed this after OTE put up obstacles to the immediate use of its network, EETT said. Meanwhile, OTE reached an agreement on wage increases for this year and 2009, the federation of the company’s unions said. The collective labor agreement will provide increases of 3.5 percent and 3 percent this year and 3 percent and another 3 percent next year, OME-OTE, the federation of unions at the former phone monopoly, said. (Reuters, Bloomberg)

Hellenic Exchanges Holdings, the operator of the Athens bourse, said first-half profit fell 11 percent on lower trading volumes. Net income dropped to 35.7 million euros ($56 million) from 40.2 million euros a year earlier, the exchange said yesterday on its website. That was higher than the 34.9-million-euro median estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Revenue fell to 63.2 million euros from 72.1 million euros, more than the analysts’ estimate of 62.2 million euros. “This reduction is due mainly to the overall reduction in transaction activity in the cash market of the Athens Exchange,” the company said. “The average daily value of transactions in first-half 2008 was 414 million euros, versus 440 million euros in the corresponding period last year.” (Bloomberg)

Russian oil major Lukoil agreed to buy Turkish fuel distributor Akpet for $500 million yesterday, securing 5 percent of Turkey’s oil product retail market as it continues its downstream expansion. Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil producer, plans to double its Turkish market share to 10 percent within a decade after acquiring eight oil product terminals with total capacity of 300,000 cubic meters, the company’s president, Vagit Alekperov, said. “Lukoil bought Akpet for a little bit more than $500 million,” Alekperov told a news conference in Istanbul after signing the deal with Akpet’s owners. Lukoil last month took its first major step into the western European refining business with the $2.1 billion purchase of a 49 percent stake in Italian refiner ERG SpA’s Isab di Priolo refinery on Sicily. (Reuters)