South African cellular service provider MTN has been accused of price discrimination by rival Cell C. The Competition Commission has now handed over the long-standing community service telephone (CST) battle to the Competition Tribunal.

Charging different prices to purchasers of services for equivalent transactions, the Commission said the act of price discrimination, without any objective justification, is prohibited by section 9(1) of the Competition Act.

“The Commission has found that MTN's conduct is likely to have the effect of substantially lessening competition between the telecommunications network operators,” the Competition Commission said in a statement.