The trade body representing Europe’s cable operators has slammed the European Commission’s analysis of the Dutch broadband market.
Cable Europe says the draft decision from the Dutch regulator, endorsed by the Commission on Friday, does not sufficiently taken into account the presence of a commercial access offer in the market.
The regulator says operator VodafoneZiggo and incumbent operator KPN as having collective significant market power (SMP) on the wholesale fixed broadband access market. It plans to place third party wholesale access obligations to both networks.
“When landmark regulatory decisions like these are taken they need to be based on objective criteria with strong, convincing evidence of market failure,” says
Matthias Kurth, Executive Chairman, Cable Europe: “I believe the European Commission has not taken enough time to look into the specifics of the case. A more in-depth analysis (a so-called phase two procedure) should have been undertaken. The Commission has missed an opportunity to properly scrutinise the draft decision, in particular with regard to the collective dominance instrument.”
Kurth says the Dutch broadband market is best in class in Europe and has a strong competitive outlook.
Figures released earlier this year by Telecompaper show VodafoneZiggo to hold a market share of 43 per cent, while KPN holds 41 per cent.
