Reuters: EU fines Spain's Telefonica record $200 m. for anti-competative actions

Reuters reports that the European Union has fined the Spanish telecommunications company Telefonica a record $200 million for hampering competition in providing broadband service in Spain.

If memory serves, Spain has the highest Internet penetration rate of any Spanish-speaking country. According to Internet World stats, it's about 44 percent - higher than any on the Internet World Stats list.
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats10.htm

A Wall Street Journal story on the same subject - the EU fine - reports that the Spanish pay about 20 percent more for broadband than other Europeans and the broadband penetration rate is about 20 percent lower than in other EU countries.

Spain isn't the only emerging nation to experience these problems. Traditional telecoms are the final bottleneck to Internet access in most nations. Without competition or government intervention, internet access rates remain low.

EU Fines Telefonica Record 151.9 Million Euros
The European Union's top antitrust authority fined Spanish telecoms firm Telefonica a record 151.9 million euros ($207 million) for squeezing out rivals from the high-speed Internet market.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=200900487