Orange and Vodafone are seeking a reduction in the access fees charged by the Romanian incumbent telco Romtelecom to its infrastructure. This, reports ZF, would allow them to offer a wider portfolio of services including IPTV.
Orange is already on record as having said that its plans to enter the satellite TV market in Romania were scuppered by the appearance and rapid growth of Romtelecom’s Dolce DTH platform. Furthermore, both Orange and Vodafone have in the past sought ways of entering the Romanian TV market by cooperation with UPC and Boom TV.
Romtelecom, which provides fixed line services to over 4 million homes, is expected to fight a draft decision by the regulator ANCOM obliging it to reduce access fees to its infrastructure. In its view, Orange and Vodafone have sufficient financial clout to steal existing customers through aggressive deals.
IPTV is still relatively undeveloped in Romania, with providers few and far between and Romtelecom having only launched a service in December last year.
