On 17 December 2010, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) published an order granting permission for the Wanadoo UK (formerly Freeserve.com) appeal to be withdrawn. The appeal was to challenge a decision of the former Director General of Telecommunications that found that BT’s pricing policies relating to its consumer broadband products did not constitute an anti-competitive margin squeeze by BT and that BT had not infringed the Chapter II prohibition of the Competition Act 1998.
Margin squeeze concerns in the telecommunications sector have become more prevalent in recent years, both at the UK and European levels. DotEcon has assisted various telecommunications operators in assessing margin squeeze issues in the setting of pricing policies and specific access charges, responding to regulatory investigations and in appeals to the Competition Appeal Tribunal within the UK.