LONDON - Yell Group PLC, the publisher of the Yellow Pages, has defended itself after a Competition Commission inquiry report said that it continues to dominate the market despite the entry of several other players including BT Group PLC.
Yell said that the market for directories had indeed become more competitive, but sound business strategies had ensured that it remained ahead of the pack. "Yell has cut its prices by an average of just under 30 per cent - substantially more than the regulation itself required; and increased its customer numbers by more than 50 per cent," the company chief executive John Condron said. "Regulation should be about the future, not the past.
The Competition Commission is clearly investigating an increasingly competitive marketplace. We will continue to fiercely contest that, in such an environment, regulation is no longer required." But the Competition Commission, which is inquiring into Yell's business since April after the OFT referred the case to it, said that Yell's domination was acting as a barrier for the entry of other players.
"Yell's strong position may give it market power and it seems likely that the prices offered to a significant number of advertisers across the market would be higher than at present without the current price cap," said Diana Guy, who chaired the inquiry committee. However, the Commission said that no final conclusion had been reached and that it recognized that the market could indeed change very quickly.
However Condron said that their own experience did not match the commission's thinking, “We find it difficult to recognize the market in which we compete from the one described in the Commission's 'Emerging Thinking'," he said. However, the threat of regulation was enough to push Yell shares down by 4.7 percent to 502.25 pence in early trading.
Posted
on : Tue, 24 Jan 2006 20:35 GMT | Business News
By : Chris Rowe
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