Google, Social Media, Online-Werbung, NextGen Access, Cloud – bei der Europäischen Kommission ist im Kartellrecht noch keine Linie erkennbar.
Die heutige Rede des EU-Wettbewerbskommissars zu “Competition in Digital Media and the Internet” ändert das nicht wirklich. Joaquín Almunia neigt zu großer Zurückhaltung, wenn es um Meinungsstatements in der Öffentlichkeit geht. Heute hat er sich für seine Verhältnisse aber überraschend deutlich geäußert. “Geäußert” ist der falsche Ausdruck: überraschend deutliche Fragezeichen gesetzt.
Geschehen in London, 2010 Jevons Colloquium, “Competition in Digital Media and the Internet: The Related Roles of Antitrust, Consumer Protection, and Regulation”.
Soundbites:
- Suchmaschinen, Social Media
Understanding the dynamics of these markets is a complex task. They are characterised by innovative business models that are constantly evolving … The most important search engine in Europe benefits from a 95% market share in usage and the most important social media site has close to 70%.
Dominance on the internet is difficult to establish. The real question remains the actual degree of contestability of these markets. Switching between search engines may appear to be relatively easy. Switching between social networks may be harder because of the stronger network effects and the portability of the data. But are switching costs of users the only criteria for contestability in two sided markets? Are there other barriers to entry?
On the internet, information travels fast and users may be very reactive. If results on a search engine for instance are being manipulated, it may well make a difference on the market if consumers know about it. But is transparency enough?
If companies do establish themselves in a strong position on a market, there may be risks that they will use this position to foreclose other markets. The fluid nature of the internet may make this more difficult to do than in other markets. Nevertheless it may be possible ….
[We are] currently examining some allegations of anti-competitive conduct in relation to search. The work is at an early stage, but given the importance of search to a competitive online marketplace, I am looking at the allegations very carefully.
- Cloud, Mobile:
This is why we will continue to work on the promotion of standards and requirements of interoperability in those instances where access becomes restricted to the point of foreclosing any kind of competition. Access will be particularly important when dealing with platforms and technologies that are essential building blocks for a next generation of innovation. It goes without saying that any public intervention aiming at promoting interoperability will have to strike a careful balance between granting access and protecting the rights of past and future successful innovators.
- Online-Medien (hier zu den Kartellverfahren gegen Verwertungsgesellschaften aus 2008):
The market for online content in Europe is a shameful anachronism, and the distribution of content online across the entire European Union is expensive and difficult. This market fragmentation deprives us of scale and the lack of scale deprives us of business.
One of the key initiatives of our Digital Agenda in Europe is to develop an internal market for content. We must find a way to develop pan-European licensing while preserving and promoting the diversity of our culture.
- Next Generation Access:
This is why the new regulation will not be a regulatory holiday for the big telecom operators. We will not lose the benefits of a decade of liberalisation by creating new private monopolies. The proposed new regulatory framework will continue to mandate access to the network when a dominant player operates in a market …
It is an established fact that Europe is good at networks and we have strong companies in that sector. But time after time we have failed to fill the pipes. Billions of euros were spent on the 3G licences but 3G didn’t really happen until a new generation of user interface and applications came from the US. The biggest web services were all developed overseas. We cannot afford to continue to miss the boat on so many different parts of the digital value chain.
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