Romania’s National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) has announced that the EC has raised no objections to its view that the wholesale markets for broadband internet access services at a fixed location require no regulatory intervention. The regulator’s position was based on an analysis of market developments between 2015 and 2019 that concluded the market for fixed broadband internet access services remains competitive, with no specific regulation required for the upstream wholesale market and insignificant use of the local loop. Thus, ANCOM’s conclusion was that no regulations are required in the markets for local access at a fixed location and, respectively, in the market for central access provided at a fixed location for mass-market products.
The EC indicated ANCOM will need to permanently monitor the retail market for broadband internet access services, in order to intervene with ex-ante regulatory matters in the event of a significant changes in the market and its competitive landscape. The Authority will therefore monitor market developments, particularly regarding internet access services with speeds above 100Mbps. ANCOM will also pay special attention to geographical variations in operators’ pricing strategies, in order to assess the need to define relevant sub-national markets, while it will monitor potentially significant changes that would require a more detailed definition of the product market, particularly the ability of rival operators to compete effectively with RCS&RDS in the high speed internet access service segments.