Belgian operator Mobistar welcomed a court ruling that will better enable it to compete with rivals Proximus and Base in the country’s quadplay market.

Mobistar welcomed a decision by the country’s Court of Appeal which backs the regulation of the Nethys/Tecteo, Brutele and Numericable cable networks.

The cable operators had fought against regulation that should mean Mobistar can access more attractively-priced wholesale rates on their networks. Orange-controlled Mobistar wants to add fixed TV and internet to its existing mobile services to match rivals.

Mobile operator Base threw in the towel last December when it withdrew from the pay TV market, citing fixed network costs, such as content rights and connection.

Subsequently, owner KPN struck an agreement to sell Base. At the end of April, a deal was agreed with Telenet, one of Belgium’s leading cable operators, to acquire Base.

Mobistar hopes the court decision will mean it can now combat Base/Telenet and Proximus, which has also adopted a quadplay strategy.

Indeed, Proximus CEO Dominique Leroy told Mobile World Live late last year that “mobile-only operators are feeling the heat from such a strategy”, an analysis that has proved accurate.