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(Updates Oct 19 story with European Commission comment)
LISBON, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Vodafone expects the EuropeanCommission to force Portuguese authorities to open access toAltice's fibre optic network to rivals, which shouldboost competition in the telecoms sector, the head of Vodafone'sPortuguese unit said.
Altice now owns MEO, the country's largest pay-TV andbroadband Internet provider which used to belong to thecountry's former monopoly Portugal Telecom.
The European Commission in July opened a probe into apreliminary decision by the Portuguese telecommunications marketregulator ANACOM not to force MEO to allow other operators suchas NOS and Vodafone Portugal to use its fibre opticnetwork.
The Commission has until Nov. 29 to make a ruling.
Vodafone Portugal CEO Mario Vaz told Reuters that recentcriticism of the current access scheme by the Body of EuropeanRegulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) was similar todoubts expressed by the Commission and Vodafone's own arguments,which gave grounds for hope that the final decision will open upaccess.
"We expect a positive result for Portugal," he said.
"We are looking forward to the result of the investigationopened by the European Commission ... which would createincentives for co-investment and more competition innon-competitive areas of the country."
"Vodafone has always defended a co-investment model for thenew-generation fixed networks and led the process to developagreements to that effect," Vaz said, adding that the currentscheme left clients in many areas with a worse service, limitedoffer and higher bills than in other, more saturated parts.
The Commission is cooperating closely with the Portugueseauthorities and BEREC to find "the most appropriate andeffective measure for the Portuguese broadband market", NathalieVandystadt, a spokeswoman for the Commission, said.
(Reporting by Daniel Alvarenga; additional reporting by JuliaFioretti in Brussels; writing by Andrei Khalip; editing byAdrian Croft and Jason Neely)
