ROSTOV-ON-DON, September 9 - RAPSI. A court has reduced the Megafon mobile operator's fine to $774,870 from $1.41 million for violating antimonopoly legislation.

According to the Federal Antimonopoly Service, Megafon provided a free service to identify "hidden" phone numbers from December 18, 2009 through December 27, 2009.

However, the service was converted to a pay service on December 28. On January 1, 2010, the service was deactivated for individuals who had activated the service while it was free.

Meanwhile, according to the watchdog, Megafon earned $471,660 by charging its subscribers for the service during this period in one region alone.

The antimonopoly service stressed that the mobile operator robbed its users of the right to freely choose optional services. The watchdog fined Megafon $774,870 in September last year for abusing its dominance on the mobile phone services market.

Megafon appealed the decision regarding antimonopoly legislation violations, as well as the ruling on the fine in the appeals instance.

The appeals instance amended the decision and reduced the fine, the court said.