S.L. 399.48 Art. 39Competition in relation to rights of use for radio spectrum. Cap. 418.

(1) The Authority shall promote effective competition and avoid distortions of competition in the internal market when deciding to grant, amend or renew rights of use for radio spectrum for electronic communications networks and services in accordance with the Act, these regulations and the Electronic Communications Code.

(2) When granting, amending or renewing rights of use for radio spectrum, the Authority may take those measures as it may consider to be appropriate in the circumstances, such as:

(a) limiting the amount of radio spectrum bands for which rights of use are granted to any undertaking, or, in justified circumstances, attaching conditions to such rights of use, such as the provision of wholesale access, national or regional roaming, in certain bands or in certain groups of bands with similar characteristics;

(b) reserving, if appropriate and justified with regard to a specific situation in the national market, a certain part of a radio spectrum band or group of bands for assignment to new entrants;

(c) refusing to grant new rights of use for radio spectrum or to allow new radio spectrum uses in certain bands, or attaching conditions to the grant of new rights of use for radio spectrum or to the authorisation of new uses of radio spectrum, in order to avoid the distortion of competition by any assignment, transfer or accumulation of rights of use;

(d) including conditions prohibiting, or imposing conditions on, transfers of rights of use for radio spectrum, not subject to European Union or national merger control, where such transfers are likely to result in significant harm to competition; or

(e) amending the existing rights in accordance with the Act, these regulations, or the Electronic Communications Code where this is necessary to remedy a distortion of ex post competition by any transfer or accumulation of rights of use for radio spectrum:

Provided that the Authority shall, taking into account market conditions and available benchmarks, base its decisions on an objective and forward-looking assessment of the market competitive conditions, of whether such measures are necessary to maintain or achieve effective competition, and of the likely effects of such measures on existing and future investments by market participants in particular for network roll-out. In doing so the Authority shall take into account the approach to market analysis as set out in regulation 54(5). AND SERVICES (GENERAL)

(3) When applying sub-regulation (2), the Authority shall act in accordance with the procedures provided in article 47(4) of the Act, article 4A of the Malta Communications Authority Act, and regulations 14 and 23.