Wolfgang Kopf (Deutsche Telekom) : A new focus for regulation in Europe and the US

Wolfgang, you have spent your whole career in competition law and telecom regulation. What are, in your experience, the main differences between competition and regulatory proceedings and in what ways does the competition and regulatory authorities’ approach differ ? I was always convinced that sector-specific regulation should be a temporary exception. In general, competition law is the appropriate tool to address failures and produce optimal output with a targeted intervention. Only in case of a systematic market failure regulation should intervene to assist a transition to a competitive market. Especially in network industries, such as the telecom sector, we have seen far-reaching and persisting regulatory intervention on access, non-discrimination and prices. To understand how