European competition watchdog raids Deutsche Telekom, Orange and Telefonica

European anti-trust regulator has raided the offices of several telecom giants, including Germany's Deutsche Telekom, France's Orange SA and Spain's Telefonica for allegedly abusing their dominant position internet service providers.

The European Commission (EC) is looking into a complaint filed by a US competitor accusing European telecom companies of abusing their dominant position as Internet Service Providers to restrict competition and drive up access costs for competitors and data-heavy content providers like Skype and YouTube.

''The European Commission can confirm that on 9 July 2013 Commission officials initiated unannounced inspections at the premises of a number of telecommunications companies active in the provision of Internet connectivity in several Member States. The Commission has concerns that the companies concerned may have violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit the abuse of a dominant market,'' the Brussels-based watchdog said in a statement.

Officials from the EC were accompanied by their counterparts from the relevant national competition authorities during the raid.

The EC said that the unannounced inspections are a preliminary step into suspected anti-competitive practices, but because the EC carries out such inspections does not mean that the companies are guilty of anti-competitive behaviour.

Internet service providers interconnect with each other through a combination of wholesale services to cover all possible Internet destinations. Internet connectivity allows content providers like YouTube and Skype to connect to the Internet so as to be able to provide their services or products at the retail level.

This service is crucial for the functioning of the Internet and for end users' ability to reach Internet content with the necessary quality of service, irrespective of the location of the provider, the EC said.

Orange said that it is co-operating fully with the EC investigation, whileTelefónica said, ''In relation to the inspections announced today by the EC, Telefónica is closely co-operating with the commission.

Deutsche Telekom showed surprise by the probe and said that as part of these investigations, data and e-mails at its headquarters in Bonn have been seized.

''This market is dominated by major providers based in the US, which means we are not the right target for these investigations. Deutsche Telekom is co-operating closely with the authorities to clarify the matter,'' it said in a statement.