Globul Takes Complaint About Bulgarian Telecoms Market to EU Officials

Published on: 1st Jan 1970: 1:33am

Bulgaria's Globul says that it has notified the European Commission's officials of what it says is the continuing monopoly tactics carried out by the Bulgarian Telecommunication Company (BTC). Globul alleges that  BTC sustains its monopolistic position in the fixed market and continues to impede alternative operators' access to the incumbent's infrastructure due to high prices, slow procedures and lack of effective regulation.

Globul is seeking easier and less expensive access to the incumbent's infrastructure and duct network.

"Globul's aim was to provide European Commission with new and reliable information about the development of the telecommunications market in Bulgaria during the past year and the ongoing issues. The lack of effective regulatory actions and the existing bureaucratic procedures in the country hamper mobile operators' efforts to invest in next generation technologies which are main priority for both businesses and the State as an important tool for improving quality of life for all European citizens" - Globul Regulatory Department Manager Angelina Liakova said.

The 15th EC Progress Report on the Single European Electronic Communications Market demonstrated that Bulgaria lags behind other European countries in terms of broadband access development and boost of convergence services - the broadband penetration rate in the country is 13% compared to the average 24.8% rate in the EU, and the distribution of the convergence services within the country is 1.16% in comparison to 16% in other EU member states.

Globul considers lack of effective regulation, continuing trend towards tolerating the incumbent operator and additional regulation of the already highly competitive mobile market to be the main obstacles to the development of the broadband market and the distribution of bundled services in Bulgaria. At present, Bulgaria is the only country in the European Union which does not have final analyses of the fixed and broadband markets. Globul stresses the importance of the production of detailed market analyses by the regulator in order to improve regulation of the two markets and stimulate the loyal competition, thus restricting the monopoly of BTC.

Globul hopes the European Commission will consider the information submitted by the operator, as the development of a single European electronic communications market and the distribution of high-speed broadband services within the European Union are among the main objectives of the EU's growth strategy Europe 2020.

 

Tags: [globul]  [btc]  [eu]  [europe]  [Bulgaria]