BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) _ The European Commission ordered France Telecom on Tuesday to pay back at least 10 million euros ($10.7 million) to its competitors for financing rural telephone lines.

The European Union's head office complained that France has not yet complied with a December 2001 European Court of Justice ruling that France improperly applied rules forcing competitors to contribute to France Telecom's fixed-lines and public phone booths.

"France is supposed to calculate the extra net costs for the public interest, and they used a method that the court didn't find acceptable," said EU spokesman Tilman Lueder.

He said France Telecom "still owes its competitors the reimbursement of the excess amount that has been paid for public service."

Lueder refused to give the exact figure that France Telecom had to pay, but said it would be from 10 million ($10.7 million) to 99 million euros ($106 million)

The warning comes as EU regulators continue their investigation into the French government's 9 billion euro ($9.6 billion) bailout of France Telecom.

Separately, the Commission said it was investigating France Telecom's exemption from some business tax, which could have been attempts to provide state aid, which are illegal under EU competition rules.

The French government has staunchly backed the nation's flagship telecom operator, and has been slow to embrace the opening of the telecom market to competition.

In other EU countries, few payments are made by competitors to the former monopoly telecommunications companies that used to run rural phone lines.

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