CCA accepts the second report of the monitoring trustee in HT/Optima

The second report drafted by Ernst & Young d.o.o. – the trustee monitoring the implementation of the remedies under the decision on conditionally approved concentration between the undertakings Hrvatski Telekom and OT – Optima Telekom – has been accepted by the CCA.

As regards the committments relating to the management of Optima assets that have been monitored on the basis of two parameters, the users’ base and the infrastructure, the trustee found that in respect of certain services, such as public voice telephony, there has been a decrease in revenue and the number of users compared to the initial data. However, there has been a global falling trend in the market concerned. Therefore, no significant change in Optima market share has been recorded.

With respect to Optima infrastructure the trustee found that the indicators had been stable until the second quarter of 2014. However, after that time there has been a decrease in the number of telephone connections due to the lower prices for services offered by other providers, which resulted in Optima losing a certain number of users in unconditioned local loop service (ULL). However, Optima recorded a raising trend in bit-stream access locations.  Therefore, the CCA accepted the assumption of the trustee in accordance to which there would be less users leaving the ULL in the future owing to the introduction of more competitive phone deals by Optima.

While accepting this report the CCA also ordered the trustee to include in the next report the data on the migration of users to other operators, particularly those switching between HT, Iskon and Optima.

With reference to the commitment of HT to protect the confidentiality of Optima users’ data the trustee found that the information security procedures and other security measures remained unchanged compared with earlier reports. The CCA acknowledged the proposal of the trustee to implement additional measures aimed at mitigating the risk of unauthorised access to the business systems of Optima, particularly, with the view to preventing ex-employees to access the confidential user’s accounts databases.

Considering the commitment undertaken by HT not to sale Optima resale outlets the trustee checked the list of indirect business partners of Optima and found that the number of the partners has increased, which is regarded as a positive trend.

The trustee confirmed that the remedies aimed at ensuring the independence in the operation of Optima during the concentration have been implemented to the highest objectively possible degree. It has been established that there have been detected no significant or long-lasting barriers to access to business partners. In accordance with the recommendations made by the Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries (HAKOM), HT board has changed the Ordinance on the Chinese Wall between HT and Optima in order to prevent the exchange of commercially sensitive information between the competitors. The revised Ordinance entered into force on 28 September 2015.

The trustee concluded that the service users are adequately informed that Optima is a member of HT group. Finally, the trustee reported that HT complies with the undertaken commitment regarding its obligation not to involve in any acquisition of control over other alternative electronic communications operators which are involved or which during the time line of the concentration may end up in a pre-bankruptcy settlement proceeding.