PARIS, Dec. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- The French authorities said Thursday that three mobile telecommunications operators in the country have been fined 534 million euros (about 630 million US dollars) for price-fixing.

    The three companies -- Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom -- were fined for illegally colluding on prices and causing "great damage to the economy," said the Competition Council.

    Of this amount, Orange is to pay 256 million euros (about 302 million dollars), the SFR 220 million euros (about 260 million dollars), and Bouygues Telecom, the smallest of the three, 58 million euros (about 68 million dollars), the council said.

    In a 90-page ruling, the Competition Council found that the operators had between 1997 and 2003 shared "precise and confidential" commercial information on the number of new customers and cancellations.

    Between 2000 and 2002 they had agreed to freeze their respective shares of the market.

    The council described the practices as "particularly serious." Enditem