Motorola in last chance saloon to overturn competition regulator’s charge control

Telecoms giant Motorola is at court today as it seeks to overturn a decision by the competition regulator to impose a charge control on its subsidiary.

Two years ago the Competition Market Authority (CMA) tabled a plan to tackle excess profits at Motorola Solutions, after it called it a monopoly provider in the emergency service radio network.

Airwave Solutions is a mobile communications network used by Great Britain’s emergency services, and it was acquired by Motorola in 2016.

Last April, the watchdog published its final report which found competition concerns in the mobile radio network services market, and as a result, it restricted how much Motorola can charge for Airwave.

The regulator strongly criticised the giant, stating Motorola “held all the cards” in negotiations, leading to emergency services paying almost £200m per year more than they should have since 2020.

It imposed a price cap to limit the price that Motorola could charge, stating it would put “an end to the estimated £200m per year of over-charging”.

There will be a review in 2026, but the cap has been set to apply to the end of 2029.

The telecoms giant filed legal action to the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), seeking an application for a review of the CMA’s decision. However, last December, the Tribunal refused to hear Motorola’s case, but the following month, it allowed it to appeal.

The parties are at a hearing at the Court of Appeal over Monday and Tuesday, where Motorola will seek to overturn the decision to not allow its review.

Speaking in August at its earning call, Motorola chief executive and chairman Greg Brown said the Court of Appeal was “the only last option as it relates to this dispute”.

This comes as the telecoms company also filed separate legal action in April against the UK government. It alleges the government failed to pay £14.5m linked to a contract to modernise communications for the country’s emergency services.