43First, in so far as the Kingdom of Spain emphasizes that the extension of DTT was achieved by public undertakings acting as the specific ‘instrumental means’ of the administration, it should be observed that, as regards the possible application of the competition rules, it is necessary to distinguish the situation in which the State acts in the exercise of public powers and that in which it carries out economic activities of an industrial or commercial nature consisting in offering goods or services on the market. In that regard, it is irrelevant that the State acts directly through a body forming part of the public administration or through an entity on which it has conferred special or exclusive rights (see judgments in Diego Calì & Figli, cited in paragraph 40 above, EU:C:1997:160, paragraphs 16 and 17 and the case-law cited, and of 12 July 2012 in Compass-Datenbank, C‑138/11, ECR, EU:C:2012:449, paragraph 35 and the case-law cited). In addition, the fact that an activity may be exercised by a private undertaking amounts to further evidence that the activity in question may be described as a business activity (judgment of 24 October 2002 in Aéroports de Paris v Commission, C‑82/01 P, ECR, EU:C:2002:617, paragraph 82).
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