The verification that a margin squeeze is not occurring is becoming more and more important, also for the Belgium telecommunications regulator, BIPT. She has designated telecom provider Proximus (before Belgacom) and cable companies Nethuys, Brutelé and Telenet as significant market powers on market 5 (broadband access). In market 6 (leased lines) Proximus was also identified as significant market power.
Beside an obligation to provide access to the respective networks, there is also the requirement not to create a margin squeeze (between its own retail price and the related wholesale service). BIPT has asked WIK Consult to develop principles for margin squeeze tests (MST) in Belgium and to assist BIPT in the related consultation procedures.
An interesting aspect is hat in Belgium, the retail and wholesale price structures are quite complex for the residential and small business products. Secondly, that beside traditional copper infrastructure also VDSL (VULA) is considered. Unique are the developed MST models for the obliged cable access, built for all four separate cable networks including the unicast- and multicast aspect of IPTV. And lastly, a MST model was built for Business customers suitable to capture offers regarding Next Generation leased lines and wholesale broadband access (WBA).
