The Czech telecoms regulator, the Czech Telecommunication Office (CTU), has confirmed that it will not issue a proposed new measure – Market Analysis No. A/3/xx.2022-x – to impose temporary regulatory measures on the country’s wholesale mobile market. The CTU issued a press release noting that, having studied results of the public consultation, it had decided against using this regulatory tool even though it claimed to have received ‘massive support’ for the proposal from all respondents except the nation’s three mobile network operators.
As previously reported by CommsUpdate, in February 2022 the EC issued a decision requiring the CTU to withdraw its 2021 draft decision relating to wholesale mobile access obligations. Whilst the regulator maintains that MVNOs are not able to offer competitive services due to allegedly unfavourable wholesale access conditions, and proposed to designate O2, T-Mobile and Vodafone as holding significant market power (SMP), and to oblige them to provide national roaming to all, the EC had serious doubts as to the compatibility of the draft measure with EU law and opened an in-depth investigation. Subsequently, on 24 January 2022 BEREC issued its own opinion on the EC’s serious doubts, partially supporting the Commission’s initial findings.
The CTU had intended to implement the temporary measures to designate the three MNOs as having SMP in this market and, furthermore: ‘Proposes to impose two operators’ obligations to offer two mobile service regulatory packages in all its existing mobile network access agreements (2G, 3G, 4G and 5G). The regulation of package prices will take the form of a ban on margin squeezes in combination with the setting of a maximum wholesale price for regulated packages. All three mobile network operators will be obliged to allow access on both packages to non-discriminatory conditions, even in the case of newly concluded contractual relations with the MVNO.’ However, it has now dropped this plan.