Monti, Mario --- "Introduction" [2004] ELECD 45; in Buigues, A. Pierre; Rey, Patrick (eds), "The Economics of Antitrust and Regulation in Telecommunications" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2004)

Book Title: The Economics of Antitrust and Regulation in Telecommunications

Editor(s): Buigues, A. Pierre; Rey, Patrick

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781843765103

Section: Chapter 1

Section Title: Introduction

Author(s): Monti, Mario

Number of pages: 4

Extract:

1. Introduction
Mario Monti

1. INTRODUCTION
This book is the final step of an initiative taken by the Directorate General for Competi-
tion of the European Commission to invite several distinguished economists to examine a
number of economic issues related to antitrust in the telecommunications sector. They
were asked to examine how standard economic theory could shed more light on what is
primarily a legal assessment of certain forms of anticompetitive behaviour and practices.
The idea was to gather around a table what often appear to be two `independent' schools
of thought, economics and antitrust law, and together to try to foster a mutual understand-
ing of how modern economic thinking assesses market behaviour in technology-driven
markets, and the fundamental legal premises upon which such an assessment should take
place.
If one looks back to almost ten years of antitrust enforcement in the telecoms sector, when
liberalization of the sector began, it becomes apparent that the Commission has not only
applied competition law with sensitivity to the special characteristics of the telecommunica-
tions industry, but has also recognized that, as in all other sectors of the economy, competition
plays an important role in spurring innovation and conveying the benefits of that innovation
to consumers.
The telecoms sector is one of the most important sectors in today's economy. It is a
`network' industry which directly affects the daily lives of each of us and plays a critical role
in the economic development of Europe as a whole. It is, ...