The European Commission has said that the telecom companies in the European region might have violated the antitrust laws in in the region.

The European Union antitrust authorities said that they had begun investigations into major telecommunications companies in the region without naming them. The authority had initiated probes over concerns that the telecom firms were using their dominant market positions to restrict internet service providers from accessing their networks.

The European Commission did not announce the names of the companies or how many were investigated on Wednesday. Deutsche Telekom confirmed on its website that it was part of the investigations and other reports suggested that Orange of France and Telefónica of Spain were subjected to the probe as well.

The Commission said that it was concerned that the companies might have violated laws that prohibit misuse of dominant position in the market. Experts say that the investigations were the preliminary step in the antitrust investigations and the companies found to be in violation of the laws could face a fine of upto 10 per cent of their gross sales.

Deutsche Telekom said on its Web site that it was “surprised by the initiation of further investigations by the commission into the global market for Internet traffic, since previous allegations have all turned out to be unfounded.” Orange and Telefónica did not offer any comments on matter yet.