ANACOM recommends big price drop for Fibroglobal

Portuguese regulator ANACOM has recommended that the government reduce the wholesale prices charged for rural broadband provider Fibroglobal’s offerings in order to stimulate the market, as a result of which Fibroglobal’s prices are expected to fall between 30% and 66%, depending on the type of access offered.

The expected level of the drop in prices is greater than that originally envisaged when ANACOM secured a mandate to regulate Fibroglobal’s prices.

ANACOM called on the government to mandate a price reduction on the company last year, following complaints by service providers NOS and Vodafone. The pair had alleged that Fibroglobal’s offering does not allow them to offer retail triple-play services profitably.They also claimed that the fibre provider, which was created in 2010 with the help of public funds, discriminated in favour of Altice-owned PT Telecom/Meo.

ANACOM said that a decrease in the price of Fibroglobal offers will result in a greater use of these offers by other retail operators than MEO, allowing them to reach the consumer market, enhancing competition and investment.

ANACOM has also recommended that Fibroglobal extend its Bitstream offer at internet speeds of 200Mbps, 400Mbps and possibly even 1Gbps and to introduce multicast functionality to enable the provision of TV and broadband internet services.

ANACOM also ruled that contracts awarded to Fibroglobal to develop networks in central Portugal and the Azores had been over-financed and ordered a reimbursement of €3.1 million.