Regulating Competition in the Digital Network Industry

Author

Jasper van den Boom

ISBN: 9781009671699

Published: December 2025

Format: Hardcover

Language: English

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Description

This book challenges market-based competition analysis as the right lens for digital ecosystems, arguing that once incumbent platforms control the access points to their ecosystem, they function as de facto regulators of who gets to compete and how. It proposes "Progressive Ecosystem Regulation" as a framework to open up digital networks and restore meaningful competitive pressure and user choice.

Key Features

• Sets out a typology distinguishing digital goods, platforms and ecosystems — a practical framework counsel can use to classify a client's digital business model before assessing competition exposure.
• Benchmarks the existing regulatory paradigms (EU DMA, UK DMCC, and Germany's Sec. 19a GWB) against each other, directly useful for cross-jurisdictional digital competition advice.
• Proposes concrete stages of ecosystem competition, from efficient to harmful, that can be used as an analytical checklist when assessing a platform's conduct.

Coverage

Typology of digital goods, platforms and ecosystems; the Digital Network Industry as a hybrid of old and new competition dynamics; core platform services as a natural monopoly question; modalities and stages of ecosystem competition; theories of harm for ecosystem competition; comparison of DMA, DMCC and Sec. 19a GWB; the proposed Progressive Ecosystem Regulation framework.

About the Author

Jasper van den Boom researches digital competition law and regulation, focusing on how platform ecosystems concentrate control over market access and what regulatory frameworks can meaningfully address that dynamic.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction — Part I. The Competitors in the Digital Network Industry: 2. A typology for digital goods, platforms, and ecosystems; 3. The Digital Network Industry: a confluence of the old and new; 4. Core platform services, the new natural monopoly? — Part II. The Dynamics of Competition between Digital Ecosystems: 5. Modalities of ecosystem competition; 6. The stages of ecosystem competition — from efficient to harmful; 7. Theories of harm for ecosystem competition — Part III. A Regulatory Framework to Govern Ecosystem Competition: 8. The existing regulatory paradigms: DMA, DMCC, and Sec. 19a GWB; 9. A New Regulatory Paradigm: Progressive Ecosystem Regulation; 10. Conclusions.

Why buy this book?

Digital markets regulation is moving fast across the EU (DMA), UK (DMCC) and Germany (Sec. 19a GWB), and most competition counsel need a framework for comparing them, not just a description of each. This book gives exactly that — a comparative typology and a proposed regulatory model (Progressive Ecosystem Regulation) built specifically for ecosystem-level competition problems that traditional market-definition analysis misses. Part of Cambridge's Global Competition Law and Economics Policy series, it belongs in any competition or tech-regulation library.

Keywords

digital competition law, ecosystem regulation, Digital Markets Act, DMCC, platform competition, natural monopoly digital platforms, competition law reform

Target Audience

Competition law practitioners, digital regulation policy advisors, academic law libraries, technology and antitrust counsel

Genre

Competition Law

Q&A

What is "Progressive Ecosystem Regulation"?
It is the regulatory framework proposed in this book to stimulate ecosystem-level competition, open up digital networks controlled by incumbents, and restore real choice for users.

Does the book compare the EU, UK and German regulatory approaches?
Yes — Part III benchmarks the DMA (EU), DMCC (UK) and Sec. 19a GWB (Germany) against each other and against the book's proposed framework.

Why does the book argue that market-based competition analysis falls short for digital ecosystems?
Because once an incumbent platform controls the access points to its ecosystem, it effectively decides who can compete and how — a dimension of power that traditional market analysis does not capture.

Is this book part of a series?
Yes — it is part of Cambridge University Press's Global Competition Law and Economics Policy series.

Where can I buy Regulating Competition in the Digital Network Industry?
This title is available directly from CLNZ Books, with worldwide shipping and secure payment by credit card or PayPal.

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