An increase in the number of wholesale providers and commercial agreements between them have prompted the UKE to propose deregulation of the WLA and WCA markets
The UKE has proposed to remove current regulatory obligations applying to wholesale broadband markets
On 17 July 2025, the Polish Office of Electronic Communications (UKE) published two month-long consultations on its draft decisions regarding the ex-ante regulation of:
Wholesale local access (WLA) – Market 1 of the EC’s 2020 Recommendation on relevant markets; and
Wholesale central access (WCA) – formerly Market 3(b) of the EC’s 2014 Recommendation.
In the draft decisions, the UKE has proposed repealing existing regulatory obligations in both markets. The consultations closed on 17 August 2025 and will be subject to notification to the EC, after which the UKE’s final decisions may be adopted.
Increased wholesale access agreements and public funding have delivered effective competition in the WLA market
The draft WLA decision concluded that the market had become far more competitive in the period since the previous market review was completed in July 2020, reducing the need for regulatory obligations to be imposed on former incumbent operator Orange. As a result, the UKE has proposed the repeal of the significant market power (SMP) obligations imposed on Orange in the prior decision, including access, non-discrimination, transparency, cost accounting, price controls and requirements to publish reference offers. The draft decision highlights a number of reasons for this, noting, for example, that the number of wholesale operators has increased from 32 to 36. The UKE also credits regulations that introduced requirements for symmetric access to physical infrastructure, such as ducts, poles and in-building components, on fair and reasonable terms, which were imposed in September 2018 following transposition of the 2014 Broadband Cost Reduction Directive (BCRD). These regulations have encouraged commercial wholesale agreements between operators, such as Orange’s agreement with Polish Open Fiber. This deal gave Orange access to Polish Open Fiber’s physical infrastructure, enabling it to increase coverage by an additional 120,000 households. The UKE argues that the increase in agreements like this has improved competitiveness in the market, reducing the need for further SMP-based regulation of Orange. The draft decision further explains that the development of broadband networks was supported by public funding from both the Polish Government and the EU, Much of this funding was provided on the basis that the infrastructure deployed would be subject to wholesale access obligations, thereby driving competition at the retail level.
Lower barriers to entry and a reduction in Orange’s market power have lessened the need for ex-ante regulation in the WCA market
In the WCA market, the UKE also proposed to remove regulatory obligations on Orange in light of changing market conditions. Given the market’s absence from the EC’s list of those susceptible to ex-ante regulation, the regulator used the three criteria test to determine whether obligations are still required:
Are there permanent legal or economic barriers to market access that are difficult to overcome?;
Is the market structure conducive to achieving effective competition within an appropriate time period?; and
Are competition law provisions sufficiently adequate to counteract market irregularities?
The UKE’s analysis found that legal and economic barriers to market access are no longer difficult to overcome, mostly due to the reduction in barriers to infrastructure development as a result of physical infrastructure access (PIA) regulation. The public funding projects behind the development of new infrastructure is also cited as a key driver of this reduction in barriers to entry. The number of wholesale operators has also risen from 128 to 158 between 2022 and 2024 following the previous market review in 2019, when Orange was the only operator offering WCA (i.e. bitstream) services. The market structure is also now considered conducive to effective competition, particularly because Orange’s market share fell from 100% in 2019. The UKE also argues that existing ex-post competition law is sufficiently well-placed to correct any market irregularities that may emerge.
The UKE’s proposals follow wider trends in ex-ante deregulation across Europe
Similar considerations about the ongoing need for ex-ante regulation in the WLA and WCA markets have taken place elsewhere in Europe, with some countries, like Poland, closer to full deregulation than others. For example, in Spain, the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC) has fully deregulated the two markets, enabling wholesale access obligations previously placed on former incumbent Telefónica to fall away. However, the CNMC also concluded that the wholesale market for PIA remains crucial for the deployment of fibre networks, therefore considering that requirements for access to Telefónica’s ducts and poles should remain in place. In Norway, in March 2025, Nkom announced proposals to deregulate wholesale broadband, stating that the market has changed considerably over recent years. Since then, Nkom has launched a further consultation following stakeholder responses that indicated a lack of willingness of some operators to voluntarily open up their networks. The regulator emphasised though this additional consultation will not affect its conclusion that the market is moving towards sustainable competition at a nearly national level.
