The Spanish Competition watchdog CNMC has ruled that Telefonica’s bundling of free TV content within its Fusion TV offer is not in breach of any competition rule, rejecting a complaint filed by Orange Spain.

Orange argued that the incumbent operator was abusing its position in Spain to reduce competition in the telecoms sector by offering “discriminatory and restrictive” deals that could not be replicated by rival operators.

However, the regulator disagreed on the grounds that Telefonica had previously notified the CNMC of the nature of its offering and that in all cases they passed the criteria measuring whether other operators could replicate such deals.

According to the CNMC, the corresponding tests determine “whether an efficient alternative operator that employs the wholesale services of the incumbent operator is able to emulate each of the deals analysed.” As a result, the regulator confirmed that it would not order the suspension of the Movistar Fusion deals and that Orange’s complaint would be shelved.

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