On 13 August 2015 the Communications Regulation Commission (CRC) adopted its final decision on the analysis of the market of wholesale local access provided at a fixed location and the market of wholesale central access provided at a fixed location in the Republic of Bulgaria in accordance with the EU regulatory framework.

The results of public consultations carried out with the stakeholders, the opinion of the Commission for Protection of Competition and the recommendations of the European Commission (EC) submitted following the notification of the two markets have been taken into account in CRC’s final decision.

The results of the analysis showed that the market of wholesale local access provided at a fixed location is susceptible to ex-ante regulation due to the lack of effective competition on the market because of the presence of an undertaking with significant market power on it. The market of wholesale central access provided at a fixed location is not susceptible to ex ante regulation because of the existence of efficient competition due to the absence of an undertaking having significant power on the relevant market.

CRC designated Bulgarian Telecommunications Company EAD as an undertaking with significant power on the relevant market of wholesale local access provided at a fixed location.

The remedies imposed on the undertaking with significant power on the relevant market aim at creating conditions for effective competition through ensuring opportunities for the competitive undertakings to offer their own services, thus enabling end users to have a wider choice.

By the adoption of CRC’s final decision the regulatory measures shall be immediately applicable.

The final decision, the market analyses and the summary of the results from the public consultations and the consultations with Commission for Protection of Competition and EC are published on 18.08.2015 under the “Market regulation – electronic communications” section.