The European Commission (EC) proposed, on 26 March 2013, new rules to cut by 30% the cost of rolling out high-speed Internet.
Civil engineering, such as the digging up of public roads to install fibre optic, represents around 80% of the cost of deploying high-speed networks. These new rules may save companies between €40 to 60 billion.
High-speed broadband is the backbone of the telecommunications and the Digital Single Market which the Commission aims to build. The several rules and administrative practices of each Member State currently hamper the deployment of high-speed networks.
The new draft regulation builds on best practices in place today in Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden and United Kingdom, organisational issues being left to a large degree to the discretion of Member States.
The Commission wishes to act in four main areas:
- Ensuring that new or renovated buildings are prepared for high-speed-broadband;
- Opening access, on fair and reasonable conditions, including price, to existing infrastructure namely ducts, conduits, manholes, cabinets, poles, masts, antennae installations, towers and other supporting constructions;
- Providing network operators with the possibility to negotiate agreements with other infrastructure providers, in order to improve civil work coordination;
- Imposing by default a six-month time limit for granting or refusing permits and allowing requests to be made through a single point of contact, to simplify complex and time-consuming license granting procedures, especially for masts and antennas.
According to the Commission, there is currently little transparency on existing physical infrastructure suitable for broadband rollout and no appropriate commonly-used rules for broadband deployment across the European Union (EU). These new Rules become directly applicable across the EU after the regulation is adopted by the European Parliament (EP) and the Council.
Further information:
- Less digging = cheaper broadband. Commission proposes rules to cut broadband installation costs http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-281_en.htm
- Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on measures to reduce the cost of deploying high-speed electronic communications networks http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/news/proposal-regulation-european-parliament-and-council-measures-reduce-cost-deploying-high-speed
