en.Wedoany.com Reported - Spain's National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) has initiated a public consultation process on the second version of the commitment offer submitted by Telefónica, which aims to open its physical infrastructure and premises. This procedure does not signify regulatory approval of the proposal, which is currently under review, with competitors having clearly expressed opposition.
Compared to the version submitted by Telefónica in February, the main changes in the new offer include: a validity period of five years, renewable for one year; maintaining the service provision and fault resolution timelines stipulated in the current wholesale physical infrastructure access offer (MARCo offer), while retaining the possibility of updating access conditions based on CNMC's resolutions in ongoing cases; keeping the operator management procedures of the current MARCo offer unchanged; increasing the recurring fees of the MARCo offer, with an initial 30% increase over the current price, followed by annual increases of 16.96% for the next three years, and adjustments in the fourth and fifth years according to the expected consumer price index (2%), while non-recurring fees remain unchanged. Additionally, a new wholesale offer distinct from Telefónica's premises co-location service has been introduced, allowing operators to place access equipment in telecom premises for deploying fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) networks.
In the summary, the regulator noted that compared to the first version of the offer, the new proposal maintains the current service provision timelines and operator management procedures, considers incorporating improvements from ongoing cases, clarifies the access and space-sharing conditions for Telefónica's premises through the release of an updated co-location offer, and makes significant adjustments in pricing.
CEOs and chairmen of companies such as MasOrange, Vodafone, Digi, Adamo, Avatel, and Colt, along with heads of fiber wholesale firms like PremiumFiber, Elanta, Lyntia, and Onivia, as well as the Acutelan and Aotec associations, have jointly accused Telefónica of exercising a de facto monopoly over duct infrastructure. According to reports, they argue that the vast majority of the 50 million fiber access points deployed by alternative operators in Spain are transmitted through Telefónica's network, and replicating these networks via alternative paths is impractical. They also stated that the high-capacity ducts have been in operation for 40 years and are fully depreciated, reminding that Telefónica has benefited from public subsidies and municipal land transfers to expand its network.
