The mobile access network sharing agreement between Orange Belgium and its competitor Proximus has just been suspended by the Belgian Competition Authority after Telenet, the third largest mobile operator in the French overseas market, filed a complaint against it. Telenet believes that the alliance would create a giant on the Belgian telecoms market.

 

"Telenet understands what motivates mobile operators to want to share their mobile network, albeit within the limits of legality, but has serious questions about how far-reaching it is that Belgium's two largest mobile players want to work together in a joint venture," the management said.

All the more so as "such a far-reaching agreement between Proximus and Orange Belgium also has the effect of reducing the number of players holding mobile infrastructure from three to two", Telenet pointed out after an argument that did not leave the Belgian regulator indifferent. And that could well interest French operators.

 

"In view of their possible impact on competition, the Competition College requires Orange and Proximus to suspend the implementation of the shareholders' agreement and the RAN sharing agreement concluded between them on 22 November 2019, as of the date of receipt of this decision and until 16 March 2020," explained the Belgian Competition Authority at the end of last week.

The decision adopted by the Belgian Competition Authority allows Orange Belgium and Proximus to continue their preparatory work for the establishment of their future joint venture. Indeed, the Belgian regulator's decision "does not prevent the sending of RFPs for the acquisition of network equipment and the selection of employees to be transferred, if this does not lead to the conclusion of binding agreements".

 

However, Orange Belgium and Proximus were keen to defend their agreement finalised last November "the agreement on the sharing of the mobile access network will have positive effects for customers and for Belgian society as a whole, in particular a faster and wider deployment of 5G, a significant reduction in overall energy consumption and a total improvement of the mobile experience, while maintaining a strong differentiation between the parties in terms of services and customer experience".

 

As a reminder, this alliance aims to create a 50/50 joint venture between the two operators. "Although sharing their mobile access networks, the two companies will retain full control of their own spectrum resources and will continue to operate their core networks independently to ensure a differentiated customer and service experience," said Orange Belgium and Proximus at the announcement of the agreement.

 

The Belgian mobile telecommunications market is currently driven by three main operators: Proximus, (44% market share in 2017), followed by Orange Belgium (27%) and Telenet, (with a market share between 20 and 30%).

For several months now, various rumours have been circulating that a fourth operator is entering the Belgian market, thus introducing more competition in a market characterised by a small number of players and relatively high prices. In a study published in 2018, the Belgian regulator had itself shown itself in favour of the entry of a fourth mobile operator on the market, noting that this new competition would make it possible to lower prices and improve innovation, but at the risk of a reduction in investment, particularly in rural areas.

 

 

 

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Source : ZDNet