Quadruple play provider Telenet has finally submitted its appeal to the new Belgian cable regulation in an attempt to get it suspended or annulled by the court.
A spokesperson for the company told TelecomFinance that the appeal was filed earlier this…
Quadruple play provider Telenet has finally submitted its appeal to the new Belgian cable regulation in an attempt to get it suspended or annulled by the court.
A spokesperson for the company told TelecomFinance that the appeal was filed earlier this week.
The company had announced its intention to legally challenge the regulation in mid July, when the Belgian Conference of Regulators of the electronic communications sector, CRC, had presented its final draft, which was then put into force in August.
Under the new rules cable operators like Brutele, Numbericable, Tecteo, AIESH and Telenet have an obligation to allow third parties to access their digital TV platform, to resell their broadband internet products, and to resell their analogue TV programming.
The company’s criticism refers to an earlier “comments letter” by the European Commission, which had said that the CRC should take better account of broadcasting market developments in the light of the recent entry of competitors into the market, in particular Belgacom’s IPTV. The EC also referred to a trend towards multi-play and converged broadband-broadcasting offers and the proposed regulation of Belgacom, which will allow third parties to offer both broadband and IPTV services over Belgacom’s network.
According to EC procedures, national telecoms regulators are required “to take utmost account” of EC comments letters before taking final decisions. But the CRC decided on 18 July to go ahead with its plans, less than a month after receipt of the letter, which had been sent on 20 June.
Telenet said it questions whether the CRC “has effectively ‘taken the utmost account’ of the European Commission’s comments,” given the short timeframe between the letter and the CRC’s final decision.
But Luc Hindryckx, who is a member of the CRC in his role as chairman of the Council of telecoms regulator BIPT, has previously dismissed the allegations. He told TelecomFinance at the beginning of August that the timeframe between comments letter and adoption of the regulation had been sufficient. “Absolutely die we take the comments of the EC into account,” he said at the time.
