Proximus, Telenet, Brutélé and Nethys should continue to open their networks to competing providers, as they still have significant market power according to the Belgian Conference of Telecommunications and Media Regulators.
The decision means that Proximus must also open its fiber network, which the company is installing, to its competitors. Proximus is investing billions in the installation of fiber in the densely populated parts of Belgium. The company already has a wholesale agreement with edpnet for the provision of services over the fiber network, but CEO Dominique Leroy previously strongly criticized proposals to regulate. For example, it threatened to stop further investments if the payback period was endangered.
The Belgian Conference of Telecommunications and Media Regulators, or CRC, consists of BIPT, CSA, Medienrat and VRM. The consultative body is coming according to HLN concluded that Proximus, like Telenet, Brutélé and Nethys, still has significant market power in the wholesale markets, resulting in a lack of competition, with negative consequences for consumers. “For consumers who buy ‘bundles’, the price regularly rises, even if it is often much higher than in neighboring countries,” notes the CRC.
It also follows from the decision that providers must give customers the choice of an internet-only service and that wholesale prices must fall to twenty percent from August 2018. According to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Telecom Alexander De Croo of Open Vld, the answers are urgently needed, because consumers in Belgium pay too much for telecom and prices are rising while they are falling in neighboring countries. “This should give the competition in the broadband and TV market a new push.”