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The Competition Authority asks AKEP not to remove regulatory obligations in the fixed-line Internet market

2024-04-04 08:08:30, Aktualitet CNA

The Competition Authority asks AKEP not to remove regulatory obligations in the

The Competition Authority has recommended to the Electronic and Postal Communications Authority (AKEP) to keep in force the regulatory obligations towards the company One Albania in the Internet market with fixed lines.

After analyzing the document "Analysis of fixed broadband access wholesale markets" released for public consultation by AKEP, the Competition Commission recommended maintaining the ex-ante regulatory obligations currently imposed on the One Albania company in the local wholesale access market offered in a fixed location; wholesale central access market provided at a fixed location for general market products; high quality wholesale access market delivered at a fixed location.

Also, the Competition Commission recommends regulatory intervention and the taking of relevant measures by AKEP in the wholesale market for passive interurban physical infrastructure, to address the problems caused by the non-existence of competition in this market.

In January of this year, AKEP released for consultation the analysis of the wholesale markets of broadband Internet access from fixed networks. Based on the conclusions of the analysis, AKEP has proposed the removal of all current regulatory obligations for operators with significant power in the respective markets.

Specifically, AKEP proposed the removal of the ex-ante (preventive) regulatory obligations currently imposed on One Albania (formerly Albtelecom) in the wholesale local access market provided at a fixed location.

Also, AKEP proposed not to impose ex-ante regulatory obligations on the wholesale market for passive access to interurban physical infrastructure.

AKEP notes that there has been a significant growth in the market as the number of fixed broadband accesses doubled in the last 6-7 years. This growth, however still characterized by a significant gap between rural and urban areas, comes from the development of infrastructure-based competition.

Alternative operators have invested in the development of their networks, using their physical infrastructure locally, to provide their services. As a result, fiber optic connections have now become the main access technology in Albania compared to historical copper networks.

As the alternative operators developed their network, they have become more competitive in the retail market as the market share of the consolidated operators in the market, including the operator with significant power, continues to decrease.

Another important consequence of the development of infrastructure-based competition is the decrease in the volume of connections sold through the wholesale market.

By the end of 2022, about 0.1% of Internet access services sold in the retail market were tendered through a wholesale bitstream market. Even for the small volume of accesses sold on the wholesale market, most are sold by alternative operators on a commercial basis.

Therefore, despite almost no scope of regulated products, retail competition has developed. As such, the removal of existing regulatory obligations is unlikely to harm the consumer due to the lack of competition in the event of deregulation in the upstream wholesale markets.

In the same logic, AKEP states that the development of retail competition has occurred despite the lack of regulation in other wholesale markets.

However, the Competition Authority does not agree with the conclusions of AKEP and assesses that the operator with significant power is the one that has the largest network extension in interurban parts and on the main axes of national roads.

In the conditions of the existence of high and non-transitory legal and regulatory barriers to market entry and since the structure of the wholesale access market for interurban passive physical infrastructure does not tend towards effective competition within the relevant time horizon of the analysis, this market must be still under ex-ante regulation, as One Albania is an operator with significant power in the wholesale market of access to the local network (LLU) and as such must be subject to the regulatory obligations provided by the law "On Electronic Communications in the Republic of Albania" ".

According to the Competition Authority, other enterprises have a small coverage and exist almost exclusively within cities. The only possibility for increasing competition is access to the network of the dominant operator (One Albania), so the Competition Authority believes that the imposition of regulatory obligations is necessary to promote competition in the market.

The Competition Authority assesses that the One Albania company fulfills the criteria to be declared an Operator with Sensitive Power in the three wholesale markets of access at the local level in fixed locations, at the central level for products of the general market and of access with high quality in fixed locations./ Monitor.al