The Italian Regional Administrative Tribunal in Lazio upholds the Competition Authority’s finding that mobile phone operators do not hold a collective dominant position in the market for access to mobile phone network (Eutelia)

Introduction The Regional Administrative Tribunal of Latium, Rome office, First Chamber (“TAR Latium”) by a judgment of 31 December 2008, has upheld a decision of the Italian Antitrust Authority (“IAA”) [1] finding that the Mobile Network Operators (“MNOs”) TIM, Vodafone and Wind do not hold a collective dominant position (“CDP”) in the market for wholesale access to mobile network infrastructure. Background Tele2 filed two complaints with the IAA in 2004, alleging that the MNOs had abused their CDP by refusing to grant access to their mobile network facilities, thus preventing Tele2 from competing with them as “virtual” supplier of mobile telephony services. Other operators including Eutelia subsequently filed similar complaints. In the Decision of 23 February 2005 opening the