Czech telecom regulator CTU has confirmed plans to regulate wholesale access to mobile networks. A market analysis found limited competition in the market, making it difficult for MVNOs to turn a profit. The proposal remains subject to a public consultation and clearance from the European Commission, a process expected to take close to a year.
The regulator said its analysis of the mobile data market found a number of failures, not least that the wholesale price of data per MB in the period 2015 to 2020 was always higher or at least equal to the retail price. In 2020, the average retail price of 1 MB was approximately CZK 0.05, while the average wholesale price was CZK 0.09 (both prices excluding VAT). This makes it difficult for MVNOs to operate profitably and offer their customers similar prices for data bundles as those from the three major MNOs.
Under the proposal the network operators Vodafone, O2 and T-Mobile would be considered dominant on their respective networks and subject to the ex ante regulation. The CTU said an important turning point was T-Mobile ending some of its network deals. Furthermore, the regulator received information that some MVNOs could go under soon.
In response, Vodafone accused the CTU of not respecting the European Commission decision from July 2019 when it refused to allow regulation of the mobile market in the Czech Republic. Vodafone said the proposal also ignores the bigger problem of O2 and T-Mobile's network sharing deal with Cetin, the Prague Morning reports.
