Orange Belgium takes note of the decision of the Belgian Competition Authority giving the telecom regulator until 16 March 2020 to further examine the sharing agreement with Proximus

Orange Belgium takes note of the decision of the Belgian Competition Authority in the proceedings launched by Telenet requesting provisional measures relating to the mobile access network sharing agreement between Orange Belgium and Proximus.

The Belgium Competition Authority acknowledges the benefits of the agreement and rejects the request from Telenet to suspend the cooperation until a final decision on the merits.

During the proceedings on provisional measures, Orange Belgium and Proximus took some commitments, which do not hinder the objectives of the agreement, to further clarify and answer the points of attention expressed by the BIPT. Taking into account the fast track nature of these proceedings, the Belgian Competition Authority has decided to suspend until 16 March 2020 the execution of the mobile network sharing agreement in order to grant additional time to BIPT to assess the latest changes on the provisions of the agreement and to ascertain that the commitments taken are adhered to. During this period of time, Orange Belgium and Proximus are still able to take preparatory measures.

The sharing agreement for the mobile access network will have positive effects for the customers and for the Belgian society as a whole, in particular a faster and more extensive deployment of 5G, a significant reduction in total energy consumption and an improvement of the global mobile service experience, while maintaining a strong differentiation between the parties on services and customer experience.