BEREC REPORT ON IMPACT OF FIXED-MOBILE ... - berec - Europa

BoR (11) 54
be included in the market analysis. Under this scenario, effective competition would be
more likely to be found, and no SMP operator identified 62 .
8. CONCLUSIONS
Trends in technology and increasing convergence of fixed and mobile services mean
that FMS is likely to become a more relevant consideration in market definition for
electronic communications services going forward.
Asymmetric substitution is a relevant factor to consider in FMS mainly due to the
mobility feature of the mobile services. Defining the focal product and analysing the
reasons causing asymmetric substitution can be important not only in the analysis of
FMS but also for market definition in general.
We have already seen one case (Austria) where fixed and mobile services were
included within the same market. The available data tends to show that FMS is
generally increasing – particularly for voice calls. NRAs use many complementary
sources of information and types of analysis to decide if mobile and fixed services
should be included in the same market.
However, the picture of FMS across countries is highly heterogeneous and depends on
factors which vary at a national level. NRAs are likely to need to take into account
different factors in assessing FMS, and some factors will be more important for some
countries than others.
Where FMS is considered significant enough to include fixed and mobile services in the
same market it is possible that the market power of the fixed incumbent operator is
reduced and this is likely to have implications for the competition assessment.
Even where FMS is not sufficient to define a single market including fixed and mobile, it
may be the case that FMS provides a degree of price constraint which should be
considered in the three criteria test for imposing ex-ante regulation assessment, in the
SMP assessment and, in the event that SMP is found, it may be considered in deciding
the appropriate ex ante obligations to impose.
62 However, it is also necessary to consider any links the fixed operator has with the mobile market (e.g. does it have a
mobile operation).
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