FEATURE : FTTH IN EUROPE


WE NEED A REGULATORY MODEL THAT PROVIDES INCENTIVES FOR NEW INVESTORS TO INVEST POTENTIALLY BILLIONS OF CAPITAL


The EECC includes measures to encourage competition and stimulate investment in very high capacity networks, such as full fibre


billions of capital. Tey need to invest with the confidence that they will receive a return on their investment. Tere needs to be a lot of consideration about how to ensure consumers will use the networks once built; to ensure that the pricing models can sustain the appropriate return, and also remove the barriers associated with building networks quickly and efficiently.’


g with an incumbent operator which has come from the former, government-owned provider.


‘We have a situation,’ he said, ‘where the market exists in an environment of regulation, but also operates under a European framework which has a presumption for competition. Te key objective of the regulatory policy, is how to provide the right governance of the industry, in a way that creates the right conditions to create competition and encourage investment, but at the same time recognise that the incumbent has had this very important historical role to play.’ Te FTIR, acknowledged Collins, is the first


time the UK government has set specific targets to give clear direction for the industry. ‘Tat’s the high level,’ he said. ‘In the detail of that, we need a regulatory model that provides incentives for new investors, to invest potentially


12 FiBRE SYSTEMS n Issue 23 n Spring 2019


Removing barriers Te FTIR and its companion strategic statement from Ofcom are designed to focus on key objectives of barrier removal, how to remove costs, and how to ensure there is take up on the new networks at the appropriate pricing levels. ‘If there is confidence that this can be achieved,’ said Collins, ‘then there will be greater pledges of investment into the networks, and the momentum will start to build.’ Te end game, of course, is to switch


off copper networks where fibre has been deployed. Realistically, how will the adoption of new regulations and strategies help towards this challenge? Fitori believes that the EECC takes steps in the right direction, but that implementation will take time. ‘Te big elephant in the room when discussing fibre is copper. Ultimately, for the copper network owners, what


will happen to copper when they can or have to switch it off is a crucial question feeding in to the fibre investment case.’ Tis is particularly important, said Fitori, for


countries – like the UK – that don’t yet have large amounts of fibre. For countries, like Spain, that are already ahead, it is about how they will manage and by which time will they switch off copper. ‘For the countries at the beginning, it is a fundamental issue to have a clear picture on what will happen to copper,’ Fitori explained. ‘It’s a very multi-faceted issue,’ she continued.


‘What do you do with consumers still using copper-based product? Can you migrate them over to fibre? It is also an investment issue, a price issue, a competition issue – it’s a complex topic! We need to have an honest and open debate about it at a European level, and come together in laying down ground rules for Europe, because we do not want a patchwork approach. Already, there are lessons which can possibly be learned because it is currently happening in Sweden on a relatively large scale. We can look at their experiences.’


Different stages, same challenges Another challenge, according to Fitori is that, while the challenges experienced by individual


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