Even after liberalisation of the telecoms market, the former monopoly company, Deutsche Telekom AG, will be able to stay dominant for a long time. The central task of regulation must therefore be to keep a check on the dominant provider's market power and to help new competitors enjoy the same opportunities. Hence the federal government's approach goes beyond just the "ex post" control of anti-competitive practices. The regulatory tasks are so specialised that they cannot be resolved with the tools of general competition law alone. That is why sector-specific regulation is necessary at least until workable competition has been established in the telecoms market.