The Belgium incumbent, Wyre, Telenet and Fiberklaar signed an MoU which should allow them to expand the roll-out of infra in the Dutch-speaking north with less disruption from construction
Proximus and Wyre, with Telenet and Fiberklaar, have agreed to work together on faster, broader fibre deployment with less civic disruption. The intended collaboration would cover about 2.7 million homes across zones with intermediate to low population density.
The parties are yet to reach a final agreement for which they need regulatory and antitrust approvals.
Carving up the territory
In ‘medium-dense’ areas, Wyre and Fiberklaar will deploy FTTH to about 2 million homes if the agreement reaches fruition, of which 60% would be by Wyre and 40% by Fiberklaar. The infrastructure would offer reciprocal wholesale access to this infrastructure for Proximus and Telenet, respectively. This should result in a more efficient roll-out with less disruptive construction works.
In the most sparsely populated zones, Proximus would start offering services using Wyre’s Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) network for about 700,000 homes, meaning it could offer gigabit speeds throughout Flanders. In large cities and dense parts of the territory, operators will continue to roll out their own networks separately.
The speed is much needed. Belgium remains a laggard in terms of FTTH/P penetration however. In a blog, ING noted, “Additional investment is particularly required in Belgium, Germany, and Greece,where less than 30% of homes were connected to fibre in 2022 (FTTH Council Europe).
“This stands in stark contrast to Lithuania, Portugal and Romania, which had connected roughly 90% of their households to fibre at the end of 2022. The difference is largely explained by lower costs per premises in South and Eastern Europe, which is why networks overlap more often.”
What led to the MoU?
The signing of the MoU is after months of discussions after the BIPT’s and BCA’s announcements in October 2023 which said they were willing to consider possible collaborations between operators. The parties have identified key terms for a possible collaboration that aligns with the announcements.
The four parties engaging with the BIPT and BCA and will say they will “fully cooperate with the authorities during their investigations”. They also say no further details will be released until the cooperation agreement is formally signed. This is expected to happen in the fourth quarter at the earliest.
Guillaume Boutin CEO of the Proximus Group said, “We have always been open for partnerships that can guarantee a faster and more efficient roll-out of fibre for households and enterprises, making fibre accessible to as many citizens and businesses as possible…
He added, “I am convinced that smart collaboration between operators would ensure optimised deployment and utlisation of the network, which would be beneficial for the consumers, all stakeholders and for the competitiveness of society as a whole.”
Proximus’ Board of Directors has confirmed Guillaume Boutin as Proximus Group’s CEO for a further six years. He became group CEO in December 2019.