T-Mobile closes European Commission investigation into network sharing with commitments

Client(s) T-Mobile Czech Republic a.s.

Jones Day represented T-Mobile Czech Republic a.s. in an investigation launched by the European Commission in 2016 in relation to the mobile network sharing agreements concluded between T-Mobile and its competitor CETIN/O2, in the Czech Republic. The case is critical for the telecom sector to reduce network deployment costs in the wake of 5G investments, and was thus closely watched by the industry across Europe. Following Jones Day's response to the statement of objections and defense at the oral hearing, the Commission significantly reduced its concerns, which allowed the parties to propose behavioral commitments that were aligned with their business plans, without affecting the existing network sharing agreements nor their extension to 5G. These commitments allowed the case to close without a finding of an infringement of competition law (and thus also without a fine).