BEREC Opinion on Phase II investigation pursuant to Article 32 of Directive (EU) 2018/1972 - Case MT/2024/2484 Wholesale physical and virtual infrastructure access market

On 28 December 2023, the European Commission (EC) registered a notification from the Maltese national regulatory authority (NRA), the Malta Communications Authority (MCA), concerning the wholesale physical and virtual infrastructure access (PVIA) market in Malta.
The MCA, in its Draft Measure,1 finds that GO holds significant market power (SMP) on the PVIA market. The MCA excludes from the PVIA product market technologies such as coaxial cable, and concludes that GO maintains a very high market share in physical and virtual unbundled access. With regard to physical infrastructure (ducts), the MCA excludes non-electronic communications networks from the scope of the PVIA market. As a consequence, the MCA intends to impose (both active and passive) access regulation on GO’s physical and virtual infrastructure.
On 29 January 2024, the EC sent a serious doubts letter opening a Phase II investigation pursuant to Article 32 of Directive (EU) 2018/1972 to the MCA (the ‘Serious Doubts letter’).
Based on the analysis set out in this Opinion, BEREC considers that the EC’s serious doubts are not justified.