Relevant Markets: A New Hope?

The commission is investing a considerable political capital in the deregulation of the communication market. In particular there are a main issues in the draft recommendation on relevant markets I like to highlight.

The exclusion of markets in the forthcoming commission recommendation represents a clear political signal of success to European stakeholders. In other words it means that competition works, regulation has been effective and it was just temporary devil. However, commission's arguments to justify the exclusion of retail markets do not fully satisfy and could be dangerous for policymakers and competition in the future.

The inclusion of the old markets will be still possible, but NRAs will face a significant burden of proof to demonstrate those market can be again regulated. Can you imagine the commission, after having invested considerable resources in deregulation, agreeing with NRAs that the devil is back?