Europe is in the midst of an intense debate over whether content and application providers should contribute to telecoms infrastructure costs. Though the operators’ proposal has found a sympathetic ear, opposing voices have grown louder
From ex-post to ex-ante: the shift in oversight of Big Tech
Fines levied against Big Tech from ex-post competition investigations have totalled more than £14bn since 2017. But competition authorities are now gaining powers to prevent anti-competitive conduct ex-ante, rather than wait to intervene once it’s happened
App stores could face ex-ante regulation
App stores and operating systems are under increasing scrutiny from regulators due to increasingly common competition concerns. As Australia and France take the lead, the EC is likely to adopt an ex-ante regulatory framework due to the recent rise in competition cases that have emerged
The increasing importance of data in antitrust reform
Ongoing initiatives of antitrust reform have three things in common. Firstly, data is increasingly seen as an asset that can determine whether a market is competitive or not, and could represent a barrier to entry; secondly, authorities demand stronger powers to monitor big tech and act against them, sometimes even ex-ante; and thirdly, markets are increasingly seen as global rather than national in scope. But it remains unclear whether all governments will follow through with legislation.
