Brussels, 08/09/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has reviewed the first case submitted to it under the new regulatory framework for electronic communications, which came into force on 25 July 2003. Under the new regime, national regulatory authorities (NRAs) must withdraw existing regulatory obligations on firms where they find that the market is effectively competitive (see Europe of 13 February, p.9). Oftel, the UK national regulatory authority, came to the conclusion that there was sufficient competition in one of the UK wholesale mobile markets making existing sector-specific regulation redundant. The case concerns the wholesale market for access and call origination on public mobile telephony networks in the UK. Mobile network access enables users to call and be called on a mobile telephone, while call origination is the use of the network's capacity to make outgoing calls. There are four 2G operators of mobile telephony networks in the UK supplying access and call origination: Vodafone, O2 (formerly BT Cellnet), T-Mobile and Orange. Oftel found that competition on this market was effective and that no network operator had individually or jointly significant market power (SMP). No one supplier has a significant market share lead over its competitors or any significant cost, technological, or other competitive advantage. Further, Oftel concluded that there is no joint SMP (collective dominance), on the basis of, inter alia, significant fluctuations in relative market shares, fluctuating relative prices, retailers' countervailing buying power, and continuing entry into the retail market by service providers. Oftel has therefore the intention to withdraw certain regulatory obligations on Vodafone and O2. The Commission, which has an oversight role in the new regulatory framework, made a number of comments about Oftel's methodology and market definition, sending this in a letter dated 29 August 2003. Competition Commissioner Mario Monti said: “I am pleased that the new regulatory framework functions and that national regulators take the opportunity to repeal sector regulation that is no longer needed.” Erkki Liikanen, Commissioner responsible for Enterprise and the Information Society, said: “Oftel's decision demonstrates that, as foreseen by the new framework, once new entrants are established and competition is proved to be effective, sector-specific regulation can be rolled back.”