The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is proposing to designate Google with ‘strategic market status’ (SMS) in general search and search advertising under the new Digital Markets Competition Regime. The CMA has also published a roadmap of potential actions it could prioritise were Google to be designated. Early priorities include: requiring choice screens for […]

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has cleared the take-over of Intelsat by SES in its $3.1 billion move. However, while the UK’s anti-trust clearance is a major step forward for the deal, there are two other entities which also need to give their permissions in the form of the EU and US. The […]

The UK’s Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) has launched a Phase 1 investigation into SES in relation to its proposed acquisition of Intelsat. The CMA believes that the proposed acquisition of Intelsat Holdings by Luxembourg-based SES could potentially lead to a substantial lessening of competition in one or more UK markets. The CMA is examining […]

An investigation by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found some of the largest sports broadcast and production companies in the UK shared sensitive information about fees for freelance workers such as camera operators and sound technicians. Four companies – BT, IMG, ITV and BBC – have agreed to pay fines totalling £4,240,356 (€5m). […]

The Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) independent inquiry group has published provisional findings following an in-depth assessment into cloud services. It has provisionally found that competition is not working as well as it could be, which is likely to be leading to higher costs, less choice, less innovation and lower quality of service for businesses […]

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched strategic market status (SMS) investigations in a second area of digital activity: mobile ecosystems. Two investigations – one into Apple and another into Google – will assess in parallel these firms’ position in their respective ‘mobile ecosystems’ which include the operating systems, app stores and browsers […]

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched its first strategic market status (SMS) designation investigation under the new digital markets competition regime which came into force on January 1st 2025. The investigation will assess Google’s position in search and search advertising services and how this impacts consumers and businesses including advertisers, news publishers, […]

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has decided Vodafone’s £16.5 billion (€19.9bn) merger with Three – creating the UK’s biggest mobile network with 27 million customers – should be allowed to proceed if both companies sign binding commitments to “invest billions” to roll out a combined 5G network across the UK. The network commitment would […]

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has provisionally found that a multi-billion-pound commitment to upgrade the merged company’s network across the UK, including the roll-out of 5G, combined with short-term customer protections could solve competition concerns identified in September 2024 and allow the merger to go ahead. The CMA investigation – led by an […]

UK telcos Vodafone and Three’s response to the UK Competitions and Markets Authority’s (CMA) Notice of Possible Remedies (Remedies Notice) has been published. The pair disagree with the CMA’s Provisional Findings, suggesting the merger will be pro-growth, pro-customer, pro-investment and pro-competitive for the UK. “It is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform UK digital infrastructure with […]