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European Commission gives green light to ANCOM: wholesale markets for services of broadband internet access provided at a fixed location need no regulatory intervention

15.12.2020 

 

The European Commission has raised no objections following the European Consultation process, therefore ANCOM has adopted its Position on reviewing the relevant markets corresponding to the services of local access provided at a fixed location and of central access provided at a fixed location, for mass-market products.The Authority thus decides that the retail market for local access to broadband internet provided at a fixed location has remained competitive, hence the above-mentioned wholesale markets need not be regulated. The Position Paper is available in Romanian, on ANCOM’s website, here.

ANCOM’s market analysis

The Position paper adopted by ANCOM relies on a market analysis carried out in order to review and – where necessary – to strengthen competition in the retail market for services of broadband internet access provided at a fixed location by regulatory measures that could be imposed in the wholesale markets. ANCOM carries out such analyses on a regular basis in order to ensure effective competition in the market, to the benefit of end-users.

The analysis has considered the market dynamics during 2015 – 2019, and revealed that the market for broadband internet access services provided at a fixed location remains competition-driven in Romania, with the upstream wholesale markets seeing no specific regulation, and with insignificant usage of the local loop. Therefore, ANCOM concludes once more that no regulations are required in the markets for local access provided at a fixed location and – respectively – for central access provided at a fixed location, for mass-market products.

The European Commission comments

Following the European consultation process, ANCOM received the European Commission’s comments raising no objections to the adoption of the measures proposed in the Position Paper.

In its comments, the European Commission also indicated to ANCOM the need to permanently monitor the retail market for broadband internet access services, in order to step in with ex-ante regulatory measures, should a significant change occur with respect to the market definition and to the competition situation in market.

Thus, among other aspects, the Authority will monitor the evolution of market conditions, in particular as regards the segment of internet access services with speeds above 100 Mbps. ANCOM will also watch closely the evolution of the main operators’ pricing strategies, at the geographical level, in order to assess the need to define relevant sub-national markets and will monitor the occurring significant changes in the market conditions that may require a more detailed definition of the product market, in particular as regards the operators’ ability to compete effectively with RCS & RDS S.A. on the segments of high speed internet access services.

ANCOM’s Position on reviewing the relevant markets corresponding to the services of local access provided at a fixed location and of central access provided at a fixed location for mass-market products is available in Romanian, on the Authority’s website, here.Â