On Tuesday 19 September, MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) will vote on the report by Alin Mituța (Renew Europe, Romanian) on the Gigabit Infrastructure Act (see EUROPE 13128/9). The text - seen by EUROPE -, on which Parliament’s Groups reached agreement on Tuesday 12 September with a view to establishing their position for future interinstitutional negotiations, will be supported by the EPP, S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA, and The Left Groups.
A number of amendments have been made to the European Commission’s proposal, particularly with regard to the procedure for managing and awarding permits for infrastructure deployment, while the future Regulation should make it easier for operators to access and re-use existing physical infrastructure and to bring fibre inside every new or renovated building.
The text stipulates that Member States will first have 15 days to examine whether a licence application is fully documented. If the national legislation in force requires a shorter period, this is the period that should be used. The competent authorities would then have 2 months to accept or reject the request. This period could be extended by 1 month in “exceptional and duly justified cases”.
Failure to respond within these time limits would be considered as tacit authorisation for the permit. Several Member States had indicated that this provision was contrary to their national law. An exemption for the latter has been included in the text.
Member States should also designate a single coordinating body in order to reduce the administrative burden and shorten authorisation procedures.
In addition, where, for reasons beyond their control, network operators are unable to carry out work during the period of validity of the authorisation granted, the latter may be extended. The duration of this extension could not exceed the initial duration of the permit granted and would be calculated according to “the circumstances of each case, the type of work and the time required to complete the work”.
Possible exemptions for independent tower companies
Certain elements of very high-capacity networks should be exempt from the permit requirement. Under the compromise reached by the rapporteurs from Parliament’s various political groups, the Commission would have the power to adopt and add to a list of items that are not subject to an authorisation procedure.
On the infrastructure side, the Commission defended the ambition to increase cooperation between network operators and the entities responsible for civil engineering works for the underlying physical infrastructure - such as ducts and masts - which account for 70% of the costs of network deployment.
The compromise document specifies that the Regulation - and its obligations - would also apply to tower companies. Independent tower companies could be excluded from the scope of application provided that they offer physical access to the infrastructure to “more than one” telecommunications operator.
The MEPs in charge of the dossier also agreed on the inclusion of roofs and parts of facades in the category of network elements intended to house other network elements without itself becoming an active network element.
Part of the document is also devoted to areas with no public infrastructure. In this case, commercial buildings could be used to install very high-speed infrastructure.
In addition, national one-stop shops should be set up so that operators can access the minimum information on the physical infrastructure they wish to access.
The Commission would be required to present a report on the implementation of the Regulation no later than 3 years after its entry into force, as opposed to 5 years in the proposal presented on 23 February.
Interinstitutional negotiations can begin once the EU Council has also adopted its position. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)