Competition Law And Telecom Sector In India

In 1992, The Indian economic opens its door to world. The foreign direct investment increase in Indian market drastically and telecom market is no exception to it. Currently there are more than 12 players in Telecom sector. The big players are trying to take over small companies. The process of Merger and acquisition is governed by various laws such as Companies Act 1956 and Competition Act 2002. The Sec. 5 & 6 mainly deal with Merger and acquisition and its impact on market. These sec. Make sure that an adverse effect shall not be made on market. The concern companies have to notify and take permission from Competition Commission of India. The process of Merger and acquisition in telecom sector is also governed by Telecom Regulation Authority of India, Department of Telecom. These multi bodies create jurisdiction and many problems. After 2G Spectrum judgment of Supreme Court of India the foundation of Telecom market shaken. The 2G services tariff was increased moreover small companies left their business from India. To overcome these problems the author has given its innovation suggestions in this Dissertation that will streamline the Indian Telecom Market.

The telecom industry in India has come a long way from enjoying natural monopolies to experiencing strong competition for services. Innovation quickly entered the scene, and competitiveness was redefined. The competitive authorities for telecommunications businesses are being forced to reevaluate their purpose and function and adopt a cooperative approach to decision-making on overlapping issues due to the changing dynamics of the industry. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) received a complaint from Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL), a new participant in the telecom industry, alleging incumbents of setting up a cartel to block entry into the market. Before that, it complained to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), claiming that the incumbents had declined to offer enough connection points. The objective of this case analysis is to examine how the Supreme Court of India's rulings have affected the cultural and creative industries on a large scale, while also examining the case's development at each level of management through the prism of the best possible regulation and competition.

In the last few years, the Competition Commission of India has been extremely assertive in its enforcement outlook, especially in the digital markets. Additionally, the relevance of competition law in India continues to grow in importance as investment activity increases. This comprehensive, practical guide outlines the highly distinctive manner in which competition law is interpreted in this major global market. Highlighting the key aspects of Indian competition law, a leading competition law practitioner describes elements of Indian competition law encompassing the following: the dual regulatory-judicial nature of the Competition Commission; investigatory powers of the Commission’s Director General; mandated business conduct policies (e.g., active risk management procedures); availability of sanctions, remedies, and private actions; cartels and leniency programmes; extraterritorial application of the Competition Commission; merger review; pricing and non-pricing abuse; approach in digital markets; appeal process; fines – companies, directors and officers; fines for non-cooperation or furnishing false information; and liability of state-owned enterprises. Analysis of numerous leading cases decided by the Indian competition authorities enhances the book’s practical value. This comprehensive guide provides an incomparable overview of practice in a key jurisdiction that is increasingly becoming one of the most important in the international recognition and enforcement of competition law. As a guide to the ‘landscape’ of competition law in India, it has no peers. The book will be of inestimable value to professionals in this area of legal practice, whether in law firms, corporations, academia, government or the judiciary, as well as to investors, economists and business executives.

This innovative study of the role of competition law in the telecommunications industry starts from a classic perspective: While, in principle, regulation benefits social welfare and efficient allocation of resources, past regulatory experience shows that regulation can be flawed and lead to welfare harm rather than good. In the telecommunications industry specifically, inappropriately designed sector-specific remedies and regulatory delays in the introduction of new telecommunications services can hold up the development of the market towards effective competition and could incur considerable welfare losses. In addition, conventional antitrust analysis still lags behind the dynamic nature of the electronic communications markets. Milena Stoyanova sets out to establish a new understanding of the role of sector-specific regulation and competition law enforcement in the electronic communications sector, addressing such questions as the following: and• Why a new regulatory framework? and• Are sectoral regulation and competition law enforcement mutually exclusive or complementary? and• Why should electronic communications markets be regulated to conform to competition law principles? and• What does competition law add to sector-specific regulation? and• What is the relationship or proportion between regulation and competition law enforcement? An overview of the telecommunications liberalization process initiated at European Community level reveals such problems as a divergent approach of national regulatory authorities in the application of one and the same norms, inability of competition authorities to rightly assess the technicalities underlying a competition problem, and difficulty in carrying out a periodical oversight of compliance with the competition law remedies. The author discusses the legal basis and rationale for the application of the essential facility doctrine to the electronic communications sector, and argues for new regulatory responses to the emergence of collective dominant firms in an oligopolistic setting and to the potential of multifirm conduct to restrict competition through price squeezing and other tactics. The book concludes with a specific case study on the harmonisation of recent Bulgarian legislation with the European Community sector-specific and competition law regimes andà propos the electronic communications sector. Effective competition in the electronic communications market is crucial for securing the dynamic role of the entire information and communications technologies sector, of which electronic communications form the largest segment. The sound and well-informed recommendations in this book ably address common and persistent problems, making Competition Problems in Liberalized Telecommunications a forward-looking mainstay for practitioners and other professionals involved in all aspects of the field.

This study investigates whether the existing regulatory framework governing the telecommunications sector in countries in Sub-Saharan Africa effectively deals with emerging competition-related concerns in the liberalised sector. Using Uganda as a case study, it analyses the relevant provisions of the law governing competition in the telecommunications sector, and presents three key findings: Firstly, while there is comprehensive legislation on interconnection and spectrum management, inefficient enforcement of the legislation has perpetuated concerns surrounding spectrum scarcity and interconnection. Secondly, the legislative framework governing anti-competitive behaviour, though in line with the established principles of competition law, is not sufficient. Specifically, the framework is not equipped to govern the conduct of multinational telecommunications groups that have a strong presence in the telecommunications sector. Major factors hampering efficient competition regulation include Uganda’s sole reliance on sector-specific competition rules, restricted available remedies, and a regulator with limited experience of enforcing competition legislation. The weaknesses in the framework strongly suggest the need to adopt an economy-wide competition law. Lastly, wireless technology is the main means through which the population in Uganda accesses telecommunications services. Greater emphasis should be placed on regulating conduct in the wireless communications markets.

This insightful book discusses the interaction of sector-specific regulation and competition policy. In particular, it identifies emerging trends and reflects on the nature of network regulation in the energy and telecom industries.

This book traces important legal and regulatory developments in the first two decades since the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was established, along with its political and economic aspects. It narrates the story of the institutional progress of TRAI and its influence on the growth of India’s telecom sector. The telecom revolution was a game changer in post-liberalization India, a country today home to the second largest subscriber base in the world– more people have access to mobile phones than toilets. Its rapid, relentless growth has created new possibilities and challenges, including a robust regulatory policy. This book, the first comprehensive survey of TRAI’s progress, examines the salient developments in regulation of the Indian telecom sector. It analyses, at the macro-institutional level, the norms and rules reconstituted over time; at the institutional level, the impact of important court judgments, relevant telecom case law (including the 2G judgment and Adjusted Gross Revenue-related cases), and the ‘judicialization’ of regulatory governance; and, at the micro-institutional level, the mechanisms of governance of TRAI and the way its functioning has affected the alignment of incentives in the regulatory space. It provides an overview of the regulatory framework and the context in which the telecom sector was deregulated, the structure of internal governance, and issues in telecom licensing and spectrum allotment. The book combines academic rigour and empirical research with a practitioner’s perspective of the unfolding events. It will interest students and researchers of economics, law, public policy, communications technology, and ICT policy and regulation, as well as telecom sector professionals, service providers, academic experts, policymakers, and think tanks.

The interface between sector-specific regulation and competition law in India is unique. In the immediate past, the Indian economy has witnessed a massive growth spurt. While the fast-paced development has lifted millions of people up from poverty levels, it has also led to concomitant challenges. India has seen several economic scandals and other crises during the period of economic boom. A significant feature of the Indian economic and legal regime during this period has been a mushrooming of innumerable regulatory authorities. With several regulatory authorities cropping up simultaneously, it is natural that they might end up having overlapping jurisdictions. Therefore, it is critical to appreciate the genesis of the Indian strand of regulatory jurisprudence. The recent controversy regarding the conflict of jurisdiction between Competition Commission of India (CCI) and other sectoral regulators like Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has generated a lot of interest in public. It has been reported that Government is considering 'clipping the wings' of CCI. In this work an attempt is made to provide the overview of two regulators of telecom industry which are TRAI and CCI and discussion is done about the conflicting issues between both these regulators. It is also discussed whether telecom industry need both the regulators simultaneously and finally conclude the work with some suggestions.

Competition and diversity in media and communications are fundamental to a healthy economy and democracy. In India and internationally there is no consensus on the exact manner and scope of interventions that are appropriate to protect competition and pluralism in media markets. Many emerging economies including India are seeking to adopt their own regulation in this area taking their lead from the UK. The issues have been brought into sharp focus in India in recent years. First, the enactment and implementation of modern - but sector neutral - competition law under the Competition Act 2002 has caused a step change in regulation towards an economics and effects-based approach. Second, in 2013 the India telecoms regulator launched controversial reform proposals to apply a media-specific approach to ownership regulation. As academics, lawyers, businesses, regulators and policy-makers in India cast a glance at the international experience, this book examines the legal, economic and policy issues relating to regulation of ownership and control of media markets. The focus of comparative assessment is on examples from the European Union, EU Member States and the US.