On 29 August 2006, the Dutch appeal court (College van Beroep voor het Bedrijfsleven) annulled decisions by telecom regulator OPTA in which all Dutch mobile network operators were considered to be monopolists in the supply of mobile termination services on their own networks. The Court decided, inter alia, that OPTA had not properly (i) considered significant market power from an individual network perspective (The Court held that a 100% share of the market did not automatically imply a position of Significant Market Power), (ii) determined whether prices were actually excessive and warranted price regulation, or (iii) considered whether deregulation of fixed termination rates could have been a solution to the alleged problematic nature of mobile termination rates. RBB assisted Orange Netherlands in the appeal against OPTA’s decision, working with lawyers Bird & Bird.
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