competition

Competition in the communications sector is complex and fast-changing. This presents both risks and opportunities to providers, as well as challenges for public authorities.

Our competition intelligence services help organisations understand the changing face of competition. We help them grasp the commercial and policy implications of new developments, and make decisions with efficiency and confidence.

Offered on a subscription basis, the service includes alerts, reports, and a database of case summaries written in English. You can also contact our competition law experts at any time for answers to specific questions.

To see how we can help you, get in touch for a personal demo.

antitrust & mergers

Our Antitrust & Mergers service makes it simple to follow key trends in competition law and its enforcement. Covering the telecoms, media and postal sectors, as well as the digital economy, our intelligence helps leaders:

    • Stay informed on developments in abuse of dominance cases, covering infringements such as excessive pricing, predatory pricing, margin squeeze, self-preferencing, and tying and bundling.
    • Access data on the actions taken across the EU to address potentially anti-competitive agreements, such as network co-investment and sharing, and online sales restrictions in distribution agreements.
    • Track merger control cases to understand the wider implications of market consolidation for competition in Europe.

state aid & subsidies

Our State Aid & Subsidies service offers intelligence on EU rules designed to ensure that public support measures in telecoms and the digital economy do not unduly distort competition and private investment. The principal focus of the service lies in the application of state aid rules to subsidised broadband deployment and take-up measures.

Subscribe to our State Aid & Subsidies intelligence service to:

    • understand the allowances and limits of public funding for broadband under EU state aid rules
    • follow the enforcement of these rules in relation tother developments, such as unfair advantages in spectrum auctions and big tech taxation
    • gain insights into key EU funding initiatives in telecoms and the digital economy, such as the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF)
    • understand the implications of the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR)

     

Latest Antitrust & Mergers intelligence

Apple app tracking transparency framework in Germany (pending case)
20 February 25 Miklós Kozma

Update: The German competition authority informed Apple about its competition concerns over the company’s so-called app tracking transparency framework. The authority is concerned that Apple applies stricter criteria to the tracking of iOS users by third-party app providers than to its own tracking of users across its digital ecosystem.

KPN/Open Tower Company merger 2025
16 February 25 Grégoire Henno

The Dutch competition authority cleared telecoms operator KPN’s acquisition of a controlling majority stake in passive mobile network infrastructure provider Open Tower Company. The clearance is subject to conditions, including an obligation to grant competitors fair and equal access to the acquired sites.

Skydance/Paramount Global merger 2025
12 February 25 Miklós Kozma

The European Commission unconditionally cleared the merger of US media companies Skydance and Paramount Global and related transactions. The Commission reviewed the transactions under the simplified procedure because there are no significant horizontal overlaps or vertical links between the parties’ operations in Europe.

Latest State Aid & Subsidies intelligence

Connectivity vouchers for rural areas in France 2024
16 February 25 Grégoire Henno

Twelve broadband internet access providers are participating in a €20m French connectivity voucher scheme to support the take-up of 30 Mbps (download) fixed broadband access services. The European Commission approved the scheme under EU state aid rules in December 2024.

New European Commission confirmed
27 November 24 Peter Dunn

The European Parliament plenary approved the new European Commission, which should be able to take office formally on 1 December 2024. Parliament approved the vote in its plenary meeting, which took place in Strasbourg on 27 November. The plenary vote followed individual Parliamentary hearings for each commissioner-designate.

Infratel adjusts market failure areas of the Italia a 1 Giga state aid measure
07 November 24 Alessandro Mauro

The adjustment corrects an error in the original mapping of market failure areas and will enable aid beneficiary operators to meet the target of covering 3.4 million households by June 2026.

Get access to the full reports and find out what our service could do for you with a free trial.

get in touch

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