The CNMC eliminates Telefónica’s obligations regarding the wholesale rental of the telephone line

The deregulation of the telecommunications sector in Spain advances and there will be public consultations on fiber after the summer

June 23. () –

The National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) has published this week a resolution relating to the definition and analysis of the wholesale market for access and origination of calls on fixed networks, which eliminates Telefónica’s obligations linked, above all, to the wholesale rental of the telephone line (AMLT).

The wholesale market for access and origination of calls on fixed networks was no longer part of the relevant market recommendations of 2014 and 2020 and another of Telefónica’s obligations that have been eliminated following the new CNMC resolution has to do with the price of call origination from your fixed network, applicable, for example, to calls to collect services, short numbers and smart network services.

In that sense, the CNMC’s decision to put an end to these impositions on the operator chaired by José María Álvarez-Pallete is linked to the shutdown of its copper network and also to the proliferation of alternative fiber access networks to that of Telefónica, which has caused these obligations to become irrelevant for competition in the markets.

The procedure for the definition and analysis of the market for access and origination of calls in fixed networks began on February 1 and during the public consultation period, allegations were presented by MásMóvil, Orange, Telefónica, Vodafone, the Association of Business Telecommunications Operators (Asotem ) and the National Association of Telecommunications and Internet Services Operators (Aotec).

THE CNMC MOVES FORWARD IN DEREGULATION

In this context, the director of Telecommunications and the Audiovisual Sector of the CNMC, Alejandra de Iturriaga, pointed out this week during the ‘DigitalES Summit’ that the entity is immersed in a “review process of all regulated markets” in the sector.

“Brussels already has two draft deregulation measures, the fixed origination market, the trunk market and in the portfolio we now have the public consultation on the physical infrastructure access markets and the residential and business broadband markets. It is foreseeable that After the summer we will launch all these public consultations for the sector,” said Iturriaga.

In this way, one of the possible scenarios after these public consultations is that the deregulation of access to Telefónica’s fiber network is completed due to the current competition in infrastructure of this type in Spain, as sources from the market.