Competition advice in regulated industries

As Competition and regulatory authorities actively promote competition in regulated industries, the boundaries between regulation and competition policy have become blurred.

Competition is being introduced in regulated industries throughout Europe, with direct reference to the principles of European competition law. Competition authorities are playing an increasingly active role in regulated industries - as shown for example by the European Commission's recent Energy Sector Inquiry, followed by various competition proceedings. Mergers in the telecoms and energy sectors have also attracted close regulatory scrutiny, with complex remedy packages being designed to accelerate liberalisation.

We combine our recognised strength in competition analysis with a detailed knowledge of regulated industries - from telecoms to broadcasting, energy, pharmaceuticals, transport, postal and airport services - and we have advised on many issues in these sectors.

Telecoms and Broadcasting
We bring together an understanding of relevant economic and regulatory theory with detailed practical knowledge of fixed, mobile, cable and satellite networks. We have advised leading telecoms operators and broadcasters in Europe and beyond (including T-Mobile, Vodafone, eircom, Orange, Telefónica, Deutsche Telekom, KPN, BT, Telecom Italia, Cesky Telekom, BTC, Telkom SA, MTN, Digicel, Vodacom, BSkyB, Sky Italia and the M Group).

Recent assignments in these sectors have included:

• Merger analysis (including T-Mobile/tele.ring and Telefónica/O2 before the European Commission, Sonaecom/Portugal Telecom before the Portuguese Competition Authority, and Telkom/BCX before the South African Competition Tribunal);
• Work for BSkyB and Sky Italia on vertical foreclosure, regulated access to the satellite platform and commercial terms for wholesale channel supply to third parties;
• Market definition and competition assessments in the context of the EU regulatory framework for electronic communications;
• Appraisal of allegations of anti-competitive conduct (including allegations of anti-competitive bundling, price discrimination, discounting and margin squeezes);
• Regulatory design, including design related to local loop unbundling, mobile termination rates, MVNO access, national and international roaming, network sharing and international benchmarking;
• Bid strategy and bidding support in relation to spectrum auctions.

See our Telecoms Brochure

Energy
We have a detailed understanding of how market design, sector regulations and technological characteristics can affect competition in the energy sector. We have advised extensively on competition issues in the energy industry, and we can draw upon the expertise of our global Energy practice in assisting clients in this sector. We have worked on most of the major European mergers involving the electricity and gas markets in recent years, including Gas Natural/Union Fenosa, Essent/Nuon, GDF/Suez, Gas Natural/Endesa, E.ON/MOL, EDP/ENI/GDP and Centrica/Dynegy, in addition to several other confidential transactions. We specialise in the application of sophisticated simulation tools to mergers in the electricity generation sector.

We have also provided advice to energy companies on sector inquiries (both at the European and national level), investigations of anti-competitive behaviour, dominance assessments, and the design of virtual capacity auctions and capacity payment mechanisms. Our recent competition work for European energy clients includes assignments in the UK, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

See our Competition and Energy Brochure

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