Alleged abuse of dominance in the market for bulk SMS

Lear advised Vodafone in proceedings before the Italian Competition Authority. The concern of the Italian Competition Authority was that the company was abusing its dominant position in the market for SMS termination to foreclose competitors in the downstream market for the provision of bulk SMS. Lear’s analysis pointed out that the assessment of the Italian Competition Authority was not able to prove the ability of Vodafone to foreclose rivals and criticized the test of the “as-efficient competitor” used to evaluate the replicability of the retail offers made by Vodafone.