The European Commission launched an investigation, yesterday, into Telekominikacja Polska (TPSA) on suspicions that the Polish telecoms giant is breaching antitrust rules and hindering competition on broadband internet access.

TPSA said in a statement that it was cooperating with the European Commission and "would make available all information necessary to clarify possible objections".

The launch of the probe follows raids carried out by the European Union regulator on Telekomunikacja Polska in September 2008.

If found to have breached EU competition rules, TPSA, which is controlled by France Telecom, could face a fine of up to ten percent of their annual turnover.

The main accusation is that the company refused to allow rivals to access bitstream - a high-speed Internet link between customers and the local telecoms network - and the local telephone network between customers and the central exchange.

A similar investigation was opened against Slovak Telekom, which is a part of Deutsche Telekom group. (jg/pg)