Belgacom said its customer base for TV, internet and packs continued to grow during Q3, 2013.
During the quarter, the number of TV homes was up 19,000 Belgacom TV subscriptions, increasing the total TV customer base to 1,447,000.
Fixed internet lines were up 8,000, with a total internet customer base of 1,660,000; and multi-play packs were up + 17,000, leading to a total of 1,295,000 packs.
However, fixed voice lines were down 33,000, with a total fixed voice customer base of 2,969,000.
During the presentation of its Q3 figures, Belgacom said it has abandoned the possibility to resale analogue cable television. The operator has explained to the regulators (BIPT) what has changed since its initial request in 2009 and has requested a revision of the market analysis to achieve a fully level playing field.
On September 12, 2013, the European Commission adopted the Recommendation on “consistent non-discrimination obligations and costing methodologies to promote competition and enhance the broadband investment environment”. The Recommendation seeks to (i) establish predictable and stable regulated wholesale copper access prices, (ii) to increase certainty on the circumstances which should lead to the non-imposition of regulated wholesale access prices for NGA services as well as (iii) ensure a level playing field through the application of non-discrimination rules.
The BIPT market analysis decision of July 1, 2011 on wholesale broadband obliges Belgacom to provide a “multicast” functionality in the bitstream offer (to be used for broadcasting). On July 4, 2013, the BIPT published a consultation on the regulated wholesale prices. The consultation ran until August 31, 2013. The multicast functionality has been implemented since April 2013. Belgacom has appealed the broadband decision to challenge the multicast obligation.
