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EU: Portugal rejects recommendation to open up fibre network

By  |  April 2, 2017

On Friday, ANACOM Portugal’s telecoms regulator, reported it had rejected the European Commission’s recommendation that it open up part of Altice’s national fibre optic network to rivals.

Last year ANACOM had indicated that it would not comply with the recommendation, prompting Brussels to conduct an inquiry and to warn that the European Commission could pursue legal measures if ANACOM did not change tack.

Local competitors such as Vodafone have been pushing Brussels to open up access to the network operated by Altice’s unit MEO in rural areas.

ANACOM said that its decision was based on the fact that Portugal had expanded its broadband network across the country using multiple networks that were operated by several companies.

“After thorough consideration, ANACOM maintains its decision not to heed the EU recommendation, taking into account data showing the specifics of the national broadband market compared with other European countries,” the regulator said.

Full Content: Reuters

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