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.

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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

Phoenix Tower International/Infracos merger (pending case)

17 September 25 Miklós Kozma

The French competition authority is consulting until 30 September 2025 on Phoenix Tower International’s proposed acquisition of Infracos, a joint venture of Bouygues Telecom and SFR that holds around 3,700 passive wireless infrastructure sites in France.

Magyar Telekom/VGreen merger 2025

15 September 25 Miklós Kozma

Update: The Hungarian competition authority conditionally cleared the acquisition of VGreen, a company spun off from regional cable operator Vidanet, by Magyar Telekom. To secure clearance, Magyar Telekom made a set of behavioural commitments relating mainly to its retail pricing in the affected municipalities over the next five years.

Microsoft Teams alleged tying abuse 2025

14 September 25 Grégoire Henno

Update: The European Commission closed its abuse of dominance investigation against Microsoft subject to commitments addressing its concerns over the alleged abusive tying of Microsoft Teams to the Microsoft 365 and Office 365 software suites. Microsoft undertook to make available versions of its software suites that do not include Teams, with additional commitments on switching, interoperability and data portability.

Latest State Aid & Subsidies intelligence

What is ahead for EU competition policy

04 September 25 Janne Kalliala

This report provides a timeline for the European Commission DG Competition’s ongoing work on six important competition policy initiatives related to the EU rules on antitrust, merger control, state aid and foreign subsidies.

Deployment of backhaul networks for mobile connectivity in Spain 2022 and 2025

25 August 25 Grégoire Henno

Update: The European Commission approved under EU state aid rules an amendment to a €500m Spanish scheme to finance the deployment of fibre-based backhaul connections between mobile radio access networks and core networks. The amendment extended the deadline for aid beneficiaries to deploy the subsidised network by six months, until 30 June 2026.

Roll-out of 5G standalone mobile networks in rural areas of Spain 2023 and 2025

21 August 25 Grégoire Henno

Update: The European Commission approved under EU state aid rules an amendment to a €680m Spanish scheme to finance the roll-out of 5G standalone mobile networks in rural areas of the country. The amendment extended the deadline for aid beneficiaries to deploy the subsidised networks by about four months, until 30 June 2026.

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

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upcoming events

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26 September 25 Brussels, Belgium Competition Law in the telecoms sector

18 > 20 November 25 Brussels, Belgium The new EU rules on data, cybersecurity and AI

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