Brussels, 26/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 26 March, the European Commission proposed new regulations for a 30% reduction in the cost of deploying high speed broadband roll-out. Civil engineering, such as the digging up of roads to lay fibre, accounts for up to 80% of the cost of deploying high-speed networks. The Commission's proposed regulation would allow businesses to save between €40 and €60 billion. Commissioner Neelie Kroes takes the view that everyone should have access to broadband. She hopes to do away with excessive administrative procedures that are an obstacle to achieving this aim. The European Commission, she points out, wants access to broadband that is faster and less costly.
Broadband is the backbone of telecommunications and, more broadly speaking, of the digital single market that the Commission is endeavouring to set in place. Its deployment is currently being slowed down by disparity of regulations and administrative practices in force at national and international levels, and by a lack of transparency with regard to existing physical infrastructure allowing broadband roll-out to be assured. There is no market for such physical infrastructure or the possibility of using infrastructure belonging to other public utility networks. Regulation in some member states acts as a discouragement even to public companies when it comes to cooperating with telecommunications operators.
The new regulation is based on best practices in force today in Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom but, to a large extent, leaves the organisational aspects to the discretion of member states. Regulations would be directly applicable throughout the EU after agreement with the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. The Commission hopes action will be along four major lines to: 1) ensure that new buildings and renovated buildings are fitted out to be high-speed broadband ready; 2) provide open access to infrastructures according to reasonable and equitable conditions, especially with regard to price, as well as to existing equipment; 3) put an end to the lack of coordination in civil engineering work allowing any operator of the network to negotiate agreements with other infrastructure providers; and 4) simplify the granting of permits, which is currently a long and complex procedure, in particular for pylons and masts, by issuing or refusing permission within six months from receiving a request, barring exception, and by allowing applications to be submitted electronically via the same single information point.
The initiative comes within the framework of a ten-point plan aimed at promoting broadband deployment, presented on the occasion of mid-term review of the digital strategy for Europe (see EUROPE 10754). The objective set by the EUROPE 2020 strategy with regard to digital policy is to give access to basic broadband for all Europeans by 2013 and, by 2020, access to connection speeds exceeding 30 Mbps for all Europeans and subscription to internet connections of over 100 Mbps for at least 50% of European households. These objectives can only be reached if the costs of infrastructure deployment are brought down throughout the EU.
ETNO welcomes Commission's proposals
ETNO, which represents the leading investors in high-speed broadband networks, welcomes the draft EC Regulation “as an important step for supporting investment in the EU and accelerating the achievement of the DAE targets”. Regulation, which aims at lowering the costs linked to civil works through a better coordination of planned works and the opening of passive infrastructures of all utility sectors, can significantly lower high-speed broadband roll-out costs, says Luigi Cambardella, ETNO Executive Board Chair. ETNO Director Daniel Pataki nonetheless calls on the Commission to “adopt further reforms of the overall regulatory landscape aiming at targeting regulation to uncompetitive areas and real bottlenecks”. (IL/transl.jl)