Telefonica said it will appeal a European Commission decision which imposed fines related to an agreement with Portugal Telecom, with the Portuguese player also stating that it is considering its options.

The Commission imposed fines of EUR66.9 million on Telefonica and EUR12.3 million on Portugal Telecom for “agreeing not to compete with each other on the Iberian telecommunications markets”.

This was inserted in a contract related to the acquisition of Portugal Telecom’s stake in Brazilian mobile operator Vivo by Telefonica.

According to the EC statement, the companies terminated the agreement in early February 2011, after antitrust proceedings were initiated.

However, in a statement Telefonica said that the clause was never applied, and “once the parties conducted their assessment on the legality of the clause, they concluded that the restriction foreseen therein could not be applied and therefore they decided to eliminate it”.

It also said that the relevant authorities were notified at the time, “so there was no secret pact or attempt to conceal it”.

Portugal Telecom argued similar points, stating that while it had not been formally notified of the decision, it will “consider bringing an action for annulment before the Court of Justice of the European Union once it has the opportunity to examine the full content of the decision and its grounds”.