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

Microsoft Teams alleged tying abuse 2025

01 April 26 Chloe Van Den Spiegel

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 suites of productivity apps. Microsoft undertook to make available versions of its software suites that do not include Teams, with additional commitments on switching, interoperability and data portability.

Explainer: Tying

01 April 26 Janne Kalliala

Drawing from the latest developments in case law and the European Commission’s draft guidelines, this report outlines the conditions under which tying may amount to an exclusionary abuse of dominance under article 102 TFEU.

Antitrust & Mergers Report 1Q 2026

01 April 26 Miklós Kozma

This edition of Cullen International’s quarterly Antitrust & Mergers Report looks at the antitrust investigations against Meta over its exclusion of AI rivals from WhatsApp, the latest on the review of the EU merger guidelines, and the competition law perspective on Poste Italiane’s bid for TIM.

Latest State Aid & Subsidies intelligence

Explainer: EU General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER)

22 March 26 Janne Kalliala

The GBER plays an important role in the EU state aid system by allowing member states to grant aid more swiftly, without prior notification to the Commission for approval, provided the measure meets specific conditions that limit distortions of competition. This report outlines the GBER’s provisions on broadband state aid and highlights proposed changes on which the Commission is consulting until 23 April 2026.

Broadband state aid spending in the EU: latest figures

15 February 26 Janne Kalliala

According to the latest available European Commission data, EU member states spent a total of €4.59bn on broadband state aid in 2024. This was 12% less than in 2023.

Foreign Subsidies Regulation: European Commission’s new guidelines

18 January 26 Janne Kalliala

The guidelines aim to enhance legal certainty by explaining how the Commission assesses distortions in the EU internal market caused by subsidies granted by non-EU countries, and how it uses its investigatory powers.

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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05 May 26 ONLINE The new EU rules on AI & Cybersecurity

23 June 26 Brussels, Belgium Better regulation for a better world?

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