FEATURE: FTTH IN EUROPE
and an end-user-related objective. Te availability of very high capacity networks depends on investment in those networks. On one hand, it is an investment objective and on the other, it speaks of take up. Tat is very important, because the new networks are only useful for the economy if they are used. Tere will only be investment if you have traffic on new networks and you see a return.’ Te second element, said Fitori, is that the
code defines very high capacity networks, rather than leave it to the imagination. ‘Te definition,’ she explained, ‘is that these have to at least be fibre to the building, antenna or equivalent. It is important that, for the first time, European legislation foresees that the policy and regulation should promote and facilitate only future-proof network investment, which meet at least certain performance and capacity parameters. It is looking to the future, and ideally wants fibre to every household, and ideally to every office, 5G. Even though these are not specifically listed as technologies in the legal text, this is what it describes in technology neutral terms. It is important that EU policy and legislation is clear on what it wants, in terms of the future digital infrastructure of Europe. It gives clarity to the investors in terms of “this is what regulation will actually reward you for”. Tat’s a clear and important message.’
Different business models Te third area of importance, stressed Fitori, is that this is the first time the regulatory framework of the EU clarifies and differentiates between the treatment of the different prevailing business models. She said: ‘We have a set of rules for the more traditional, vertically integrated business models, where an operator owns the network and runs the services in regard to the consumer on that network – it typically has a mobile arm and a fixed arm – now rules are clarified for the wholesale-only model, CityFibre in the UK, for example. Te same model has been announced for the new Fibre Nation network of TalkTalk and there are other examples across Europe of the model, which isn’t new.’ For example, the fibre networks in ‘non-
commercial’ areas of France have been run as wholesale-only for approximately 10 years. ‘What is new,’ said Fitori, ‘is that the rules have been clarified for this model for the first time in EU level legislation. On each business model, there is the vertically integrated, the wholesale- only and the co-investment model. Tese are the three models being regulated – to be more precise, the rules for these three models have now been clarified in the code.’ Te UK communications sector is somewhat
lagging behind its mainland European counterparts in fibre deployment and uptake. ‘Te UK’s mobile coverage is relatively weak, compared with international benchmarks and fibre coverage is relatively weak,’ commented Mark Collins, co-founder and director of strategy and public affairs at CityFibre.
Ahead of the game Compare this with, for example, Spain, which is ahead in Europe when it comes to fibre
www.fibre-systems.com @fibresystemsmag Issue 23 n Spring 2019 n FiBRE SYSTEMS 11
deployment. Incumbent, Telefónica Spain last year developed a scheme allowing it to transform its network by shuting down a copper switchboard a day until 2020. Te Faro Project is designed to enable the shutdown of 653 copper switchboards by 2020 – 253 occurred last year, with 200 planned in 2019, and a further 200 in 2020.
Under the project, savings can be made when
it comes to energy and space, with the space occupation of fibre at 15 per cent in comparison to copper, and potential energy savings of up to 60 per cent. Pablo Ledesma, director of operations at Telefónica Spain, said: ‘Fibre is the access technology that will support the development of the services and customers of the next 100 years, and Telefónica is working on the evolution of copper to fibre, and enabling network transformation and simplification processes.’ Ledesma’s belief that Spain is at the forefront
of Europe in the deployment of ultra-fast broadband and digitalisation was echoed by the Market Panorama figures released at last year’s year’s FTTH Europe Conference in Valencia, which demonstrated a considerable growth, with 1,612,371 new FTTH/B subscribers from October 2016 to September 2017. Notably, the UK failed to make the rankings. Updated figures will be revealed when the event goes to Amsterdam in the coming weeks. More recently, the Spanish Prime Minister
announced plans to ensure that the entire country has access to 300Mb/s fibre broadband by 2021, with an investment of €525 million in the next stage of developments, designed
THE CODE DEFINES VERY HIGH CAPACITY NETWORKS, RATHER THAN LEAVE IT TO THE IMAGINATION
to place the country ‘at the global head in availability of digital infrastructure’.
Target practice To try to move the UK in a similar direction, the government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy published its Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review (FTIR). Te document sets ‘clear, ambitious targets’ when it comes to full fibre and 5G networks, including the connection of 15 million premises to full fibre broadband by 2025, and provision of full fibre coverage across the entire country by 2033, in a move acknowledged as vital to underpin 5G coverage. Te chancellor backed this in his October budget speech, with a commitment of £200 million to fund connections in harder-to- reach and rural areas across the UK. Collins believes that the UK market is heavily
Te UK failed to make the Market Panorama rankings last year. New figures will be revealed at the FTTH Conference Europe
regulated because it was formerly a utility sector, g
FTTH Council
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