France’s telecom regulator Arcep has launched a consultation to resolve copper pair pricing, in an initiative which is a part of the 12 priorities that the group had identified during its recent strategic review.
With demand for a major technological transition and replacements in optical fiber, Arcep revealed a new generation of network roll-outs alongside listing sharing options by stakeholders in a move favoring a co-investment model.
The French telecom regulator intends to use the feedback for a geographical adjustment of unbundling prices.
Adaption of current price-setting methods, based on gradual phasing out of the copper network can aid in copper price governing.
The motive behind the completion of this initiative is to increase the number of users switching from the legacy copper network to new super-fast networks.
The public consultation was conducted for developing a basic framework and reviewing regulatory pricing methods to be followed so that an efficient structure is in place in the lieu of the transition period between the legacy infrastructure and new networks.
The topic of the shift has been in talks for quite some time now with the Champsaur report particularly centering on this issue.
The document published by the regulator today is a result of the above reflective process, and puts forth economic incentive schemes.
Arcep also plans to implement a possible geographical adjustment to control recurring monthly price of the copper pair.
Participation is sought from the market stakeholders on the above topic and the criteria used to define the areas for application alongside the future methods for respective area implementation.
The group will also ensure that the work agrees with the Plan France Tres Haut Debit (Superfast Broadband France program).
Arcep: Gains rights for 4G and fibre network roll-outs
Arcep also announced that it will be accepting the provisions adopted by the French government on the Order (1) transposing the European Directive of 15 May 2014 (2), commonly referred to as the “civil engineering” directive, which also feature its opinion of 29 March 2016.
The provisions simplify fixed and mobile superfast network rollouts and promote exchanges between the different network industries.
It will also improve connectivity and coverage in general, focussing on the sparsely populated areas and within constrained environments such as during travel.
Arcep already conveyed recent strategies to speed up superfast connectivity and coverage nationwide.
The Government adoption will implement several decrees in the coming weeks, which will be submitted to Arcep for feedback.
Granting access rights to existing infrastructures
Civil works take up a huge part of fixed and mobile superfast network rollout costs. Hence, this directive introduces the right to access existing civil engineering infrastructures for the purpose of superfast network deployment by the operators.
This access has to be granted under reasonable technical and pricing terms and conditions.
The affected infrastructures include electronic communications, transport, energy and water sectors.
The directive introduces operators with the power to access information pertaining to these infrastructures.
Also, more detail has been brought to existing provisions for civil engineering work coordination, which have also been reinforced.
The process begins off with dialogue and negotiations between market stakeholders.
If those fail, the order gives Arcep a newfound power in order to ensure complete implementation.
An operator or an infrastructure manager can call Arcep to settle a dispute.
The traditional process of the above should be done inside a two to four month interval, depending on the circumstances.
Vina Krishnan
editor@telecomlead.com
