The Competition Appeal Tribunal (“CAT”) has rejected an appeal by Motorola against the Competition and Markets Authority’s decision to impose a price cap on the Airwave mobile telecommunications network. Motorola had contended that that the CMA’s analysis of (i) the relevant competitive dynamics and (ii) Airwave’s profitability had been flawed. The CAT rejected these grounds and upheld the price cap. The effect of the price cap is to reduce the sums paid to Motorola by the Home Office by c.£200m per year.
The decision is a valuable illustration of the principles applied by the CAT when assessing challenges made under s.179 of the Enterprise Act 2002 in respect of CMA market investigations.
Ben Lewy (led by Sarah Abram KC and Naina Patel) acted for the Competition and Markets Authority.
View Judgment