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Altice now owns MEO, the country's largest pay-TV and broadband
Internet provider which used to belong to the country's former
monopoly Portugal Telecom. The European Commission in July
opened a probe into a preliminary decision by the Portuguese
telecommunications market regulator ANACOM not to force MEO to
allow other operators such as NOS and Vodafone Portugal to use
its fiber optic network.
The Commission has until Nov. 29 to make a ruling. Vodafone
Portugal CEO Mario Vaz told Reuters that recent criticism of the
current access scheme by the Body of European Regulators for
Electronic Communications (BEREC) was similar to doubts
expressed by the Commission and Vodafone's own arguments, which
gave grounds for hope that the final decision will open up
access.
"We expect a positive result for Portugal," he said. "We are
looking forward to the result of the investigation opened by the
European Commission ... which would create incentives for
co-investment and more competition in non-competitive areas of
the country." "Vodafone has always defended a co-investment
model for the new-generation fixed networks and led the process
to develop agreements to that effect," Vaz said, adding that the
current scheme left clients in many areas with a worse service,
limited offer and higher bills than in other, more saturated
parts.
The Commission is cooperating closely with the Portuguese
authorities and BEREC to find "the most appropriate and
effective measure for the Portuguese broadband market", Nathalie
Vandystadt, a spokeswoman for the Commission, said.
(Reporting by Daniel Alvarenga; additional reporting by Julia
Fioretti in Brussels; writing by Andrei Khalip; editing by
Adrian Croft and Jason Neely)
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