The fixed broadband internet market in Romania will be completely deregulated, the telecom regulator ANCOM announced on January 5.

ANCOM made this decision after receiving a positive response from the European Commission at the end of 2015 related to its intention to deregulate the market.

According to ANCOM, the European Commission has confirmed that Romania’s fixed broadband internet market was one of the most competitive in Europe and thus needed no more regulation measures. The decision puts an end to local mobile carriers Orange and Vodafone’s hopes that they would get regulated access to the fixed broadband internet networks operated by their competitors, such as RCS&RDS, Telekom Romania, and UPC.

Orange and Vodafone have been asking ANCOM to force the other operators share their fixed broadband internet infrastructure at a regulated price, in order to level the playfield in this market segment.

A few years ago the mobile carriers were forced to open their mobile networks to competitors. However, ANCOM considered that the fixed broadband internet market was competitive enough and needed no regulatory intervention. Thus, Orange and Vodafone will have to negotiate their access to their competitors’ internet infrastructure.

editor@romania-insider.com