Market Analyses in the Electronic Communications Sector

The electronic communications sector, characterized as a network industry with various entry barriers to market entry, constitutes a typical example of imperfectly competitive markets. From the perspective of increasing total welfare, establishing a competitive environment in these markets is of vital importance. Considering firm behaviors in such markets, it is evident that the application of only ex post competition rules is often insufficient on its own. Indeed, pursuant to the European Commission's Recommendation dated December 17, 2007 (2007/879/EC), necessary market analyses must be conducted by the relevant national regulatory authorities for the specific (7) markets identified as susceptible to ex ante regulation. In this context, without being limited to the aforementioned markets, there is a need for ex ante regulations by the regulatory authority to foster competition in markets where effective competition is found to be absent, and regulatory authorities achieve this through the market analyses they perform. The identification of electronic communications markets lacking effective competition, the determination of operators with significant market power, and the imposition of specific obligations on such operators to establish, protect, and enhance competition are facilitated through market analyses. Accordingly, market analyses play a pivotal role and hold great significance in the regulatory framework of the electronic communications sector. Regulatory authorities' consultations with sector stakeholders, the explanation of potential obligations and intended objectives; the review of imposed obligations during the subsequent market analysis process; and the monitoring of regulatory effectiveness are also enabled through market analyses. In our country, market analyses are conducted under the Market Analysis Regulation published in the Official Gazette dated 27.11.2012 and numbered 28480. Pursuant to the second paragraph of Article 5 of the said Regulation, market analyses are repeated at intervals of no more than three (3) years, and the competitive conditions in previously analyzed markets along with the obligations imposed on operators are reviewed. Pursuant to Article 14 of the said Regulation, documents related to public consultations on market analyses, documents containing post-consultation evaluations, and final market analysis documents incorporating the resulting obligations are published on the Authority's website. Accordingly, the section below provides references to the aforementioned documents and to the Authority Decisions regarding the approval by the Information Technologies and Communications Authority of the Final Market Analysis documents that include the obligations imposed on operators with significant market power in the relevant market.

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