Portuguese regulator calls time on excessive fibre wholesale pricing

Portuguese regulator ANACOM has called for the government to force a reduction in prices charged by fibre network infrastructure operator Fibroglobal to service providers following complaints from NOS and Vodafone.

ANACOM said that its analysis had shown that Fibroglobal, which operates fibre networks in central Portugal and the Azores, was charging substantially more for access to its network than DSTelecom, the operator of fibre networks in the northern part of Portugal, Alentejo and the Algarve.

NOS and Vodafone have alleged that Fibroglobal’s offering does not allow them to offer retail triple-play services profitably.

ANACOM has also notified the Portuguese competition watchdog about its findings.

NOS and Vodafone complained about Fibroglobal last year, alleging that it discriminated in favour of Altice-owned PT Telecom/Meo. The latter is Fibroglobal’s only service provider customer. Newspaper Publico reported last year that conglomerate Visabeira had sold its 95% in Fibroglobal, which was created in 2010 with the help of public funds, to an un-named buyer. The newspaper pointed to ongoing close links between Fibroglobal and Meo, which held the remaining 5% stake in the company.