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3) Finally, when carrying out the current Review, it is of paramount importance that the Commission should take account of recent and on-going market developments in the electronic communications sector, and of the concrete (re)structuring and functioning of the products and services on the markets such as, inter alia, (i) the increasing convergence between services, and thus of relevant markets, (ii) the new increasing number of new “applications” in this sector, developed by Applications Service Providers, that are able to provide services independently from underlying regulated wholesale inputs.
In conclusion, at the occasion of this Review, the Commission should send a clear signal to the NRAs and the market about its objectives of ex ante regulation in the remaining markets within the current and up-coming regulatory framework.
II. Comments on Fixed Communication
i. Retail Markets
Belgacom wants to underline one basic rule in respect of regulatory intervention in relation to retail services. Retail related regulatory obligations should not be imposed where relevant wholesale measures (can) achieve the promotion of effective and durable competition. In the current regulatory framework, from a forward-looking perspective, relevant wholesale regulation sufficiently allows market entry in the retail fixed access and voice telephone markets. The retail markets should therefore be eliminated from the list of relevant markets.
A. Fixed telephony access market (Market 1-2): Eliminated
1. Market situation of Belgian fixed telephony access market
A visible decrease of fixed telephony connections can be seen since 2000. In the business as well as in the residential markets, old (PSTN) technology is declining: Customers may increasingly choose to access voice offers over Voice over broadband and Mobile. In addition, access to voice services is provided over different platforms (cf. for example cable telephony), further increasing the competitive pressures on the access market.
2. Fixed telephony access market for non-residential customers is already competitive
Telecom markets for non-residential customers are always the first areas subject to liberalisation. In the business market(s) (corporate clients), replication has taken place at the infrastructure level. Alternative operators use fibre, terminating parts of leased lines, ULL or bitstream for delivering their services to corporate clients. This market segment is highly competitive.
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