European Union regulators are now actively seeking information on whether or not Apple's iPhone distribution agreements with mobile telecom operators may be setting the company up to shut out rival smartphone competitors, an act that could lead the electronics company into a formal investigation by the EU.
The investigation comes after informal complaints last year by some telecom companies. The European Commission has sent out a questionnaire to a good number of these mobile telecoms and mobile operators in the European Union. The purpose of the questions were to uncover whether Apple was purposefully putting itself at an advantage over other smartphone companies like Samsung, who recently became the number one distributor of smartphones in Europe in April of last year.
"The Commission has information indicating that Apple and Mobile Network Operators ('MNOs') have concluded distribution agreements which may potentially lead to the foreclosure of other smartphone manufacturers from the markets," the nine-page questionnaire states.
According to Reuters, telecom operators were asked if Apple gave them incentives to purchase a minimum number of iPhones, ensure Apple gets better or comparable subsidies as rival smartphone competitors or if Apple asked them to provide preferential treatment for marketing iPhones above competitors.
Furthermore, regulators seemed especially interested in whether or not Apple restricted any of these telecom companies from using the iPhone 5 in their 4G/LTE networks. Similar to the U.S., European operators pay subsidies to smartphone makers so that their customers can get discounts on the phones and devices that they make in exchange for singing on to contracts with that cell phone provider.
All of these companies have until June 17 to respond to the 9-page questionnaire. Depending on the responses to them, it is possible that Apple could find itself under investigation for violating anti-trust laws within the European Union.
According to comScore research from February of this year, Samsung currently holds 32.3 percent share of the market with Apple in second place with 20.5.
