The operators’ proposed commitments to remedy concerns could reduce wholesale access prices by 30% and even lead to deregulation in the next market review
The potential impact of the planned cooperation on competition and wholesale prices
On 15 October 2025, the proposed cooperation between Proximus and Telenet in the rollout of fibre networks in Flanders, Belgium’s northern region, reached an important milestone after the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) launched a public consultation on a package of commitments submitted by the operators. Specifically, they relate to an agreement between Proximus, through its subsidiary Fiberklaar, and Telenet, via Wyre (its joint venture with Fluvius), to deploy fibre to two million premises in medium-density parts of the region, as well as migrating Proximus’ customers to Wyre's cable network in rural areas. The BCA opened an investigation into the planned deal in July 2024, focusing on the reduction of infrastructure-based competition between the operators in question (given they were both previously building independently), as well as on the impacts on wholesale prices and the risk of negative effects on competition between service providers at the retail level. The commitments offered have been assessed by the BCA and the BIPT, Belgium’s communications regulator, in close collaboration.
The BIPT would be responsible for ensuring the operators provide network access on a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory basis
To address the BCA’s concerns, and in addition to accelerating the rollout of fibre networks in Flanders, Proximus/Fiberklaar and Telenet/Wyre have proposed to grant “long-term access to all their networks” – i.e. fibre, cable and copper – on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms “in exchange for the substantial cost savings and value generated by their cooperation”. According to the BCA, the operators’ commitments, which would be subject to oversight from the BIPT (as a “monitoring trustee”), include a reduction of around 30% in fibre network access tariffs in the joint deployment area. It added that the cooperation, combined with the proposed commitments, has the potential of generating direct benefits worth more than €2.5bn (£2.17bn), noting that the rollout of high-performance fibre networks is essential for the competitiveness and the future of the economy. While the BCA is now seeking views on the draft commitments until 21 November 2025, it provisionally considers that they are capable of ensuring a fair distribution of the savings and other benefits arising from the proposed cooperation, and thereby of addressing its concerns.
Binding commitments could open the door to deregulation of the wholesale broadband market in the area concerned
The BCA stated that its market test is an intermediary step mandated by law and a prerequisite to closing the investigation by making the proposed commitments binding. The BIPT also stated that if the BCA does take that step, it would take the commitments into account in its next market analysis in order to assess the need for regulation and/or the form any regulation should take. In all likelihood, in the areas concerned, the current regulation of wholesale broadband markets could be replaced by a monitoring of the commitments alone. However, given the provisional nature of the commitments, it is not possible at this stage to determine the timing of their potential implementation. Consequently, the BCA has advised municipalities to continue processing without delay applications for permits relating to the deployment of fibre networks, regardless of the envisaged cooperation. On 31 July 2025, the BCA opened an ex officio investigation into a similar cooperation project between Proximus and Orange for the deployment of fibre networks in Wallonia – a region Orange recently strengthened its position in through the 2023 acquisition of cable operators VOO and Brutélé.
