The way to free choice of modem is now finally clear in Belgium. An appeal against the BIPT’s decision was rejected by the court.

The BIPT announced in October that Belgian telecom users will have a free modem choice from November 1, 2024. You will therefore no longer be obliged to buy a modem from the telecom operator you subscribe to. The decision met with some resistance in the telecom sector, but an appeal against the decision was dismissed by the court, reports VKTE, an association of European telecom equipment manufacturers.

“In a uniform business model, not all innovations end up with the end user. A free market and thus competition for the best device stimulates innovation and gives end users the opportunity to make a choice that suits their needs and budget. “We are satisfied that all efforts have led to this result,” explains a VTKE spokesperson.

Belgians like to decide for themselves

A previous survey by VKTE shows that Belgian telecommunications users are already demanding free modem choice. 55 percent said that it was very or fairly important to them to be able to connect their own modem directly to their broadband connection. The three major telecommunications providers Proximus, Telenet and Orange, on the other hand, continue to advise against using their devices.

Free modem choice will come into force on November 1, 2024, but how exactly does it work in practice? First, a network point (NTP) must be determined, which indicates when the user assumes responsibility for the hardware.

For connections to a copper network and fiber optic network, the location of the network connection point can be thought of as the socket to which the modem is connected. For a connection to a coaxial network, this is the black network distributor to which the modem is connected. The BIPT assumes that free choice of modem should allow end customers to change operators of the same network infrastructure more easily.

Belgium is not the first country to leave the choice to the end user. Based on the Net Neutrality Regulation, free modem choice has been available in the European Union for several years. With this introduction, Belgium is following the example of Finland, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, which had previously decided to introduce free modem choice. VTKE hopes that other European countries will follow this example.