The findings concerned the dominance of Yell Group and Thomson Directories in the market for classified advertising for small businesses. The two have a market share of over 90% by gross revenue, while BT and Trinity Mirror have under 5%.
Yell Group, which sold its direct marketing business Yell Data to Experian in 2003, has been subject to price controls imposed when it was bought by a consortium of private equity investors in 2001. However, the OFT concluded that the price controls had not resulted in increased competition in the market.
Experian licenses data from Yell and Thomson Directories, as well as other sources, for its National Business Database. Thomson Directories also licenses its data to Acxiom, Blue Sheep, Market Location, Data HQ and MarketScan.
The investigation by the Competition Commission will take between 15 months and two years, but could result in more favourable conditions for BT and Trinity Mirror as the smaller players in the market, allowing them to develop their data offerings.
Trinity Mirror last year launched The One Directory, a business-to-consumer paper directory in Glasgow and Edinburgh, supported by its Daily Record newspaper brand.
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