Brussels, 05/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - The Commission has opened an investigation on the proposal by the Czech regulatory authority - Czech Telecommunication Office (CTU) - for defining the market for terminating segments of wholesale leased lines and whether it complies with the regulatory framework. Leased lines consist of specialised connections (private circuits) for the transmission of voice and data to operators providing telecommunication services. These connections are generally used by companies to link up geographically remote local centres.
The Commission has serious doubts whether the relevant product market has been defined by the Czech authority in accordance with the principles of competition law and therefore whether it complies with the regulatory framework governing telecommunications. The Commission is concerned that an inappropriately defined market may lead to the designation with significant market power of an operator which could potentially not have such a position on a properly defined market. The Commission now has two months to further investigate the draft measure and may take a decision requiring the CTU to withdraw the draft measure if its concerns are borne out. Before issuing a decision, the Commission will take full account of the opinion of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC). (IL)