Polish cable operator Vectra is facing fines for failing to meet the conditions imposed by the country’s competition regulator when approving the takeover of rival Multimedia Polska. In January 2020 the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (Urzad Ochrony Konkurencji i Konsumentow, UOKiK) gave the green light to the merger of Vectra and Multimedia if Vectra agreed to sell networks in eight cities and offer customers in a further 13 markets the option of changing provider without costs. The watchdog now says that the cableco has sold networks in just three cities and it faces a fine of up to EUR10,000 (USD10,539) per day.
Telko.in has published a response from Vectra which states: ‘To date, Vectra has met the vast majority of the conditions imposed by [UOKiK], and the networks not yet sold represent only an insignificant percentage of Multimedia Polska’s assets.’ It says that it has increased competition in the affected markets by deploying fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) infrastructure and allowing rival operator Play to offer services over its networks. It goes on to add: ‘Our actions directly address issues regarding the possibility for customers to use the services of more than one supplier.’