To Merge or Not to Merge: The Institutional Re-Design of Telecommunications Regulation in the Netherlands

Abstract

On 1 April 2013, the Independent Postal and Telecommunications Authority (OPTA) was merged with the Dutch Competition Authority (NMa) and the Netherlands Consumer Authority (CA) to form the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM). This brought an end to an almost two decade-long debate in the Netherlands concerning the position of OPTA and regulation of the telecommunications sector. From all the available alternatives that have recurred within the numerous debates, the Dutch government finally opted for the merger of the telecommunications regulator and the general competition regulation. With their decision, the Dutch policymakers signal that they have come to perceive telecommunications as a sector that has become sufficiently competitive and therefore no longer in need of ex ante regulation by a sector-specific regulator. The decision is backed by the argument that the gap between ex ante and ex post regulation has substantially faded. This decision goes directly against the critical views of a number of authoritative actors, however, among them economic analysts of the Central Planning Agency and academic telecommunications experts. Among the counterarguments, we find the view that the telecommunications market is still dominated by the incumbent; that the convergence of telecommunications and media sectors are rapidly converging due to innovations in transmission infrastructures and software; and, finally, that the regulation of content is a matter of public interest that cannot be safeguarded by competition regulation alone.