The PUC has officially confirmed that BTL holds a near-total stranglehold on the country's digital and telephonic infrastructure. In a Final Determination issued yesterday,, the regulator declared BTL dominant in every single retail and wholesale category evaluated, with one minor exception. The report finds that Speednet Communications Limited (SCL) holds dominance only in "wholesale call termination" - a technicality meaning they only control the calls that end specifically on their own network. In every other category of competition, they are legally classified as the non-dominant player. So what does it mean? Well, If BTL - with its established dominance in all markets - acquires Speednet, the telecommunications sector would moves from a "dominant-player" model to a total monopoly. And, since the Telecommunications Act expressly promotes competition, an acquisition of a competitor by a declared dominant force might seem to suggest that the PUC can either block the acquisition or impose unprecedented "Regulatory Remedies".
The PUC's report explicitly lists "transparency" and "non-discrimination" as mandatory remedies for BTL. But critics argue that if BTL becomes the only player, those remedies may be impossible to enforce.
