Antitrust authorities across the world are waging war against domestic and international cartels. The European Commission in particular has intensified its prosecution activities and increased dramatically the fines it imposes on cartelists. This article undertakes a statistical overview of the...

In this article the alternative methods of regulating the cable TV industry are compared in terms of efficiency and consumer welfare. The effectiveness of each regulatory option in limiting any market power that cable operators may be able to exercise is considered in a framework which...

The UK Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC) nine-month inquiry into fixed-to-mobile termination charges provides an exhaustive analysis of competitive and cost factors in mobile telephony. Its recommendations are discussed and compared with those of the telecommunications regulator, OFTEL,...

This paper sets out the basic economics of network effects and two-sided or multi-sided markets as relevant to antitrust and regulation. Network effects, and the related concept of two- (or multi-) sided markets, are playing an increasing role in antitrust/competition law in the communications...

This paper brings up to date an on-going statistical analysis of the fines imposed in cartel prosecutions commenced between 1998 and 2006 by the European Commission and courts on appeal under the 1998 Penalty Guidelines and completed to the end of October 2010. Based on an analysis of all 46...

The English courts in Sainsbury's v. MasterCard and Morrisons v. MasterCard came to opposite conclusions on the illegality of MasterCard's multilateral interchange fees (MIFs). While both courts posited bilateral counterfactuals, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) in Sainsbury's held that...

Sainsbury's v. MasterCard establishes the pass-on “defence” in English/UK law. The Competition Appeal Tribunal set out a two-part test which it erroneously distinguished from the economists' notion of pass-on. It then went on the develop key elements of legal test for pass-on in price fixing...