Telecom provider Proximus is taking action with ten proceedings against the planned joint venture of rival Telenet and network operator Fluvius. According to the Belgian company, the two parties have repeatedly violated the law, reports De Tijd.
The ten proceedings concern alleged illegalities related to public procurement and regulations at EU and Flemish administrative level. It could take years for the Belgian Council of State to reach a decision, by which time Telenet and Fluvius will presumably already have officially entered into a partnership.
Tickling
De Tijd questions this state of affairs. It refers to a source who says it is not an actual legal offensive against the alliance. “If it were a real offensive, Proximus would have filed suspension requests or asked for interim measures from a court. It’s akin to tickling.”
The joint venture has been running into all sorts of delays for years. EU authorities are currently looking into the partnership. Telenet has already applied to the Council of State to intervene, although it does not fear that its plans for cooperation with Fluvius would be jeopardized.
Joint ventures are also taking place in the Dutch market to accelerate the spread of fiber-optic networks. For example, KPN and pension fund APG joined forces with Glaspoort. It recently took over half of GlasDraad.
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