The Irish regulator has published three decisions stemming from the review of the wholesale broadband access markets – Wholesale Local Access (WLA) and Wholesale Central Access (WCA).
Background: These decisions supersede the reviews of the Wholesale Physical Network Infrastructure Access and Wholesale Broadband Access markets of 2010 and 2011, respectively, and were therefore overdue.
What’s new? ComReg has removed some regulation on EirCom, which is no longer subject to ex-ante regulation in about half the country (mainly urban areas) with regard to WCA. EirCom continues to have SMP in rural areas for WCA, and across the country for WLA. As a result, it faces access obligations on its copper and FTTX infrastructure. In a separate decision, ComReg also reviewed the margin-squeeze tests to which EirCom is subject, to make sure competitors can replicate the incumbent’s retail bundles.
Next steps: The new European Electronic Communications Code, soon to come into force, will introduce a five-year timeframe for market reviews. It is therefore expected that ComReg will review these obligations in 2023.
