The Finnish telecom regulator Traficom had, in its September 2017 Significant Market Power (SMP) -decision considered that the Finnish telecom company Elisa would have significant market power (SMP) in the wholesale market for high-quality access at fixed location in 98 municipalities in Finland. High-quality access enable competing telecommunications operators to provide high-quality connectivity services at local level, particularly to their corporate customers.

By the SMP-decision, Traficom imposed upon Elisa obligations to lease wholesale high-quality access, to comply with non-discriminatory terms in pricing and other terms, and to disclose delivery terms and price lists. The Supreme Administrative Court, by its decision of 20 December 2019, repealed the SMP-decision and referred the matter back to Traficom.

The Court considered that the market analysis underlining Traficom’s decision and the reasoning thereof inadequate. Traficom had also acted unlawfully in so far as Elisa had not been given an opportunity to be heard by the Agency concerning the use of certain data contained in the frequency database as a basis for market share calculations regarding radio-relay links. In addition, some of the factors identified by the Court that affect the existence of significant market power had not been sufficiently addressed by Traficom.

Merilampi represented Elisa in the matter. The final decision of the Supreme Administrative Court on December 20, 2019, Volume 6182 has been published on Court’s website.