Menon Economics is winning more and more assignments in the field of competition economics, and we have now clearly established ourselves as an actor in this market. Recently, we have assisted in an expert role in various disputes, and in spring 2016, we were commissioned by the Norwegian Competition Authority to develop a methodology for identifying potential anticompetitive effects of regulations in the service industries.

Compensation lawsuit

On behalf of law firm Kvale, Menon has assisted with expert knowledge in the lawsuit TDC / Get has brought against Telenor. TDC filed a compensation lawsuit against Telenor after the former Post- and Telecommunications Authority (now the Norwegian Communications Authority) issued a decision (later upheld by the Ministry of Transport and Communications) that Telenor had wrongfully overcharged TDC in the wholesale market for call origination and termination on mobile networks.

Menon was brought in before the case came up in the Court of Appeal in January 2016. With the help of its unique industry knowledge and market understanding, Menon substantiated and strengthened the existing argumentation prepared by professors Kenneth Mountain and Frode Steen for the district court proceedings. Partner and Chairman of the board Dr. oecon Erik W. Jakobsen presented Menon’s findings in the Court of Appeal.

Anticompetitive regulation

In a number of OECD countries, it is standard procedure that any proposed new regulation must undergo so-called regulatory impact analysis (RIA) to ensure that it does not unnecessarily inhibit competition. This is not the practice in Norway, and the Norwegian Productivity Commission’s first report (NOU 2015: 1) therefore pointed out that there might be some regulations with adverse effects on competition.

On behalf of the Norwegian Competition Authority, Menon has now developed a methodological framework to review all existing regulation of the service sector. It can be used to identify those regulations that unnecessarily hinder competition. The framework is further illustrated by a number of case studies.