E fundit!

22:51 TODAY

Businessman Artur Shehu breaks his silence: I am a long-time land owner in Zvërnec, I don't know the investors at all

Albanian businessman Artur Shehu spoke on the Opinion show...

AKEP approves new regulation for market analysis

2026-03-19 11:10:00, Ekonomi CNA

The Electronic and Postal Communications Authority (AKEP) has prepared a new regulation for market analysis, which provides for several changes to the list of markets that will be analyzed as potential markets for preventive (ex-ante) regulation.

According to the regulation, this list will include the wholesale market for local access at a fixed location, the wholesale market for access to dedicated capacities, the wholesale market for call termination on individual fixed telephony networks and the wholesale market for call termination on individual mobile telephony networks.

Compared to the previous regulation, from 2009, the wholesale market for call origination on the public telephone network provided from fixed locations, the wholesale market for terminating segments of leased lines and the wholesale market for broadband access have been removed from the list of markets to be regularly analyzed.

The change to the list of markets designated for ex-ante regulation was made based on the latest recommendations of the European Commission, which date back to 2020.

However, as in the existing regulation, AKEP reserves the right to define and analyze other markets, if deemed necessary for regulatory purposes.

In deciding to analyze other markets, AKEP will rely on the three-criteria test, defined by the European Union regulatory framework.

Specifically, these three criteria are the verification of the presence of high and intransigent barriers to entry; the verification of whether a market structure does not tend to move towards effective competition within a relevant timeframe and the assessment of whether or not the application of the law in force, which regulates the field of competition, is sufficient to adequately address the market failure under consideration.

If a market does not meet one of the three criteria above, AKEP does not analyze this market for significant market power and does not impose regulatory obligations on this market or cancel existing obligations.

Based on the provisions of the new law "On Electronic Communications", the new regulation also establishes the periodic time limits for conducting the analyses. AKEP will conduct the periodic analysis within five years from the date of the previous decision for the determination of undertakings with significant power in a relevant market; within three years from the date of the amendment of the regulation for the determination of relevant markets, in accordance with the recommendations of the European Union, for markets not previously analyzed; within three years from the date of Albania's accession to the European Union.

In exceptional and justified cases, the deadline may be extended by no more than one year.

The Regulation stipulates that when reviewing the market analysis, AKEP takes into account changes in market structure and competition; technological evolution and market developments; recommendations and guidelines of the European Commission and BEREC (Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications) for the analysis of Markets.

The main ongoing regulatory challenges for AKEP are related to the mobile services market, a market that is generally a natural oligopoly, while in recent years it has gone through a phase of concentration, with only two actors remaining in the market.

At the end of last year, the Competition Authority opened an in-depth investigation into two mobile service providers in the country, Vodafone Albania and One Albania.

In the reasoning of the decision, the Competition Authority states that the retail mobile services market in Albania is presented as a duopoly, where the two operators in question jointly own 100% of the market. This structure indicates a high market concentration and a limited level of effective competition, creating favorable conditions for a collective dominant position.

From the preliminary investigation that included the period from January 1, 2022 to July 25, 2025, the Competition Authority has found that the companies Vodafone Albania and One Albania have followed similar commercial behavior in relation to their mobile service offers, including prepaid, contract packages and roaming services./ Monitor Magazine