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.

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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.

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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)

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Latest Antitrust & Mergers intelligence

Deutsche Post, Max Ventures possible anticompetitive agreements 2025

13 July 25 Grégoire Henno

Update: The German competition authority closed its investigation into possible anticompetitive agreements between Deutsche Post and companies of the Max Ventures group that provide mail consolidation services. The decision comes after the parties cut their ownership ties and terminated certain contractual agreements.

PostNord Strålfors/21grams merger 2025

13 July 25 Miklós Kozma

The Swedish competition authority conditionally cleared the acquisition of 21grams by PostNord Strålfors after an in-depth phase II merger control investigation. The parties made an extensive set of commitments, including functional separation of Strålfors from PostNord’s mail delivery operations.

Meta alleged constructive refusal to supply in online ad verification (pending case)

10 July 25 Miklós Kozma

Update: The French competition authority sent a statement of objections to Meta, setting out its preliminary view that the company abused its dominance by failing to use objective, transparent, proportionate and non-discriminatory criteria for the admission of independent providers to its online ad verification partnerships. The interim measures that the authority imposed on Meta in 2023 will remain in effect until its final decision.

Latest State Aid & Subsidies intelligence

Deployment of very high-capacity networks in Belgium 2024

06 June 25 Grégoire Henno

The Belgian authorities reported to the European Commission ad hoc state aid measures totalling €68.2m to support the deployment of fixed very high-capacity access networks (VHCN) in so-called white areas where no current or planned network provides a minimum download speed of 100 Mbps.

Deployment of very high capacity networks in Belgium’s Walloon region 2022 and 2024

06 June 25 Grégoire Henno

The Belgian authorities reported to the European Commission several ad hoc state aid measures totalling €54.6m in 2022, 2023 and 2024 to support the deployment of fixed very high-capacity access networks (VHCN) in underserved areas of Belgium’s Walloon region.

Amazon selective tax advantage in Luxembourg 2017 (annulled)

31 May 25 Miklós Kozma

Update: The European Commission formally closed its investigation into an alleged selective tax advantage granted by Luxembourg to Amazon between 2006 and 2014. The Commission’s 2017 decision ordering the recovery of €250m in allegedly illegal state aid was annulled on appeal by EU courts.

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get in touch

For more information about our Competition services, please contact:

Janne Kalliala phone: +39 348 69 18 879 janne.kalliala@cullen-international.com