Belgian operators Proximus and Orange vowed to continue plans to finalise a network sharing agreement despite rival Telenet lodging a complaint over the deal with the Belgian Competition Authority.

In a statement, Proximus said it and Orange Belgium remained confident the sharing agreement would “bring positive effects to the Belgian mobile communications market”.

It added Telenet withdrew from talks to be part of the pact several weeks ago and subsequently lodged the complaint, requesting the competition regulator suspend the implementation of the agreement until it completed an assessment of the merits.

A decision from the regulatory body is expected by early 2020 at the latest.

The network sharing agreement was announced in July and was originally intended to be a 50:50 joint venture. At the time, the operators said the agreement would help meet increasing customer demands by improving coverage in Belgium and accelerating 5G rollout.