Telecoms watchdog calls for better wholesale cable offers

Belgium's media and telecoms regulatory body has called for the country’s major cable operators to improve their wholesale offers to alternative providers, reports Telecompaper. The watchdog, known as the CRC, approved the basic reference offers from Brutele, Tecteo (Voo), Coditel (Numericable) and Telenet, while adding a number of "qualitative" service requirements. These include the right for alternative operators to choose their own conditional access system, a choice of five internet plans offered by the cable operators and two by the alternative providers, the option to offer video-on-demand services over broadband and service level agreements. The operators now have six months to implement the new services. The CRC said it expects to take a decision on the pricing of the reference offers at its next meeting, after it has received feedback from the European Commission.