TDF denounces the ubiquitous nature of a decision that comes after an 8-year procedure to sanction the award of a contract validated by all the administrative jurisdictions and in which TDF was the highest bidder.
TDF points out that the Autorité de la concurrence's decision contradicts decisions taken by the administrative courts. On three occasions, the Administrative Court (October 2, 2009), the Administrative Court of Appeal (January 31, 2012) and the Council of State (December 3, 2012) ruled that the conditions under which the City of Paris awarded the contract were regular and legally compliant.
TDF would like to reiterate that its bid was selected by the City of Paris on the basis of its quality and price, in the interests of Parisians, which the Competition Authority did not take into account. TDF had in fact proposed an annual fee of 3.7 million euros, twice that of its competitor.
TDF also stresses that it strictly complied with the competition requirements applicable to a public contract. TDF was confronted with a strategy of harassing Towercast's requests for information, to which it responded in the best possible conditions following validation by the City of Paris. Similarly, after the concession was awarded, Towercast never clearly and credibly specified its requests for hosting on the site.
TDF also contests having overestimated the value of the equipment installed on the Eiffel Tower site, as confirmed by several expert appraisals.
Lastly, TDF is astonished to be condemned for abuse of a dominant position for acts committed in 2006 and 2007, when over the past 10 years, the opening up of the audiovisual broadcasting market to competition has enabled its competitors to hold a 35% market share.
TDF reserves the right to appeal against this decision by the French Competition Authority.