ARCEP to launch consultation on DTT transmission business

French telecom regulator ARCEP is to launch a public consultation on its analysis of the country’s digital-terrestrial TV transmission market, focusing in particular on whether transmission services provider TDF enjoys a dominant position.

According to ARCEP’s analysis, while TDF has a dominant position in the market, with numerous constraints – notably the need to build an alternative national broadcast infrastructure – on new entrants, it is also true that alternative players have gained a foothold in DTT distribution, with tangible results in terms of infrastructure competition. ARCEP said it wanted to regulate the market in a way that was responsive to the needs of alternative distribution providers without placing unnecessarily punitive obligations on the incumbent.

The public consultation, to be launched in April, will seek views on the exact nature of a regulatory regime to be implemented by the end of June.