Rekabet hukuku boyutuyla yeni nesil mobil iletişim hizmetleri pazarında işbirliği anlaşmaları

Yeni nesil mobil iletişim alanındaki işletmecilerin rekabet stratejileri, şebekelerini en kısa sürede, en düşük maliyetle kurarak ilgi çekici katma değerli hizmetleri makul fiyatlarla kullanıcılara sunma prensibine dayanmaktadır. Bu alandaki düzenleyici ortam, teknoloji, lisans ücretlerinin ve şebeke kuruluşunun yarattığı ciddi maliyet, bu amaca ulaşmak isteyen işletmecileri çeşitli işbirliği anlasmaları yapmaya yönlendirmektedir. Söz konusu işbirlikleri, altyapıların rakip işletmecilerce birlikte kurulması ve işletilmesine yönelik ortak girişimler, şebekenin paylaşılmasına ilişkin anlaşmalar, içerik/yazılım sağlayıcı, uygulama programları üreticileri ya da cihaz üreticisi firmalarla yapılan işbirlikleri gibi çeşitli seviyelerde ve şekillerde artarak yapıla gelmektedir. Mobil iletişim hizmetleri pazarındaki işbirlikleri, anahtar darboğaz problemleri, hakim durumdaki firmaların durumlarını güçlendirmeleri ve pazarın yeni girislere kapatılması gibi rekabet hukukunun kapsamına giren bazı sorunları da beraberinde getirmektedir. Bu makalenin konusunu, bu pazarlardaki işbirliği anlaşmalarının rekabet üzerindeki olası etkilerinin ve ilgili pazarlarda rekabetin sağlanmasına yönelik yaklaşımların tartışılması oluşturmaktadır. Bu çerçevede çalışmada, 3G pazarında yapılagelen yatay ve dikey nitelikli işbirliği anlaşmaları açıklanarak, bunların rekabet üzerindeki olumlu ve olumsuz etkileri incelenmekte, Avrupa Komisyonu’nun konuya yaklaşımı kararlar özelinde ortaya konulmakta, Türkiye mobil iletişim hizmetleri pazarındaki işbirliği anlaşmaları için getirilen düzenleyici çerçeve ve Rekabet Kurulu’nun konuya ilişkin kararları ile olası rekabet hukuku incelemelerinde dikkate alınması gereken temel esaslara yer verilmektedir.

Collaboratıve agreements ın new generatıon mobıle communıcatıons market from competıtıon law perspectıve

The competition strategy of the new generation mobile communications operators depends on the rapid roll-out of their network for minimum cost and providing interesting value added services for fair prices to consumers. The burdens created by regulatory environment, technological requirements and significant cost of licenses and deployment of networks drive operators to participate in collaborative agreements in order to achieve this purpose. Such agreements are increasingly being made at various levels and models i.e. in the form of joint ventures to co-build and operate the infrastructures or agreements to share networks, or cooperation agreements between operators and content/software providers, application providers and equipment manufacturers. However, collaborative agreements in mobile markets might also restrict competition by resulting in key bottleneck problems, strengthening of dominant firms’ positions and foreclosure of access. The subject of this paper is to discuss the potential impacts of such agreements on competition and principles adopted for the protection of competition in new generation mobile communications markets. In this context, after explaining the horizontal and vertical collaborative agreements in 3G market, their impact on competition is examined, the European Commission’s approach is defined, the related regulatory framework and the decisions of the Turkish Competition Authority is analyzed and finally the fundamentals of a potential competition inspection are stated.

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