Cooperation, Dependence and Eviction - How Platform-To-Business Relationships in Mobile Telephony Ecosystems Should Be Addressed in A Competition Law Perspective?

This contribution aims at analysing the potential effects of competition law based decisions in the mobile operating systems domain, considering their two-sided structure. Based on the notion of complementary investments, it proposes to investigate the relationships between the pivotal player and its partners. After establishing the economic and technical grounds underlying their contractual relationships, we assess them under the length of competition laws requirements. We show that, despite the gains that can result from these relationships, their asymmetrical nature may induce abuses of dominance or anticompetitive takeovers. However, we stress that competition law based remedies may be poorly efficient to address these issues. Cette contribution porte sur les effets des décisions concurrentielles dans le domaine des systèmes d’exploitation mobiles en regard de leur structure de plateforme biface. S’appuyant sur la notion d’investissement complémentaire, elle se propose d’analyser les relations entre la firme pivot de chaque système et ses partenaires. Il s’agit d’évaluer en termes concurrentiels les dispositifs techniques et financiers qui les lient. Au-delà de cette question liée à l’évaluation de leur effet net sur la concurrence, il s’agit également de s’interroger sur les possibles abus d’exploitation et d’éviction qui peuvent résulter de telles relations complémentaires mais asymétriques. Cette contribution discute enfin les possibles effets de remèdes concurrentiels portant sur ces relations. Version en français de cet article