In just one year, fibre subscriptions have increased by 36% in Spain and by 34% in France but overall only 33% of European homes have access to fibre-based connectivity. However, it is worth noting that 51% are of the view that fibre provides for a better value for money . Europeans want very high speeds as well as resilient, reliable and secure broadband that is future-proofed for the next waves of service innovation.

 

With its proposal on the European Electronic Communications Code, the piece of legislation aimed at revising the existing legislative framework for telecommunications, the European Commission recognised the need to step up efforts to deliver world class, fibre-based connectivity.

 

The agreement on this Code, which was reached only a few weeks ago, gives a clear and consistent political commitment to full fibre. For the first time, investment in very-high capacity (VHC) networks is becoming a legally binding objective of the regulatory framework alongside competition, the creation of the single market and consumer benefits. This new Code marks a shift compared to the previous regulatory framework as it addresses the urgent need for step-change infrastructure investments in Europe and supports the evolution of the telecom market towards a long term competitive structure. Even more importantly the parameters defining the VHC networks will be built on the characteristics of fibre.

 

The text also prioritises regulatory tools that enable and stimulate competitive investments and ensures the right balance in new business model regulation, which results in new fibre investments and safeguards a long-term competitive market structure and non-discrimination at the same time.

 

“Nowadays it is fundamental that businesses focus their investments on future-proof technologies such as fibre, which is the only future-proof infrastructure delivering high performances in terms of speed, bandwidth, symmetry and latency as well as reliability, efficiency and sustainability,” says Ronan Kelly, President of the FTTH Council Europe. “Many applications right now, and more so in the future, need the reliability of fibre connectivity and fibre is also the necessary backhaul for mobile and wireless technologies. Therefore, if telecom and technology players, and the industry more in general, are to answer the challenges of the 5G revolution and the Gigabit society, they should accelerate their investment and speed up the transition to full fibre.”

 

“Moreover, end users’ choices with regard to connectivity are influenced by the quality and amount of information on connectivity performances available. It is therefore essential that a special attention is given to the availability of transparent and comparable performance data. We already see that the consumer demand for full fibre connectivity is consistently rising, wherever fibre is available.  It is for example worth noting that 94% of non-FTTH users would consider subscribing to FTTH if it was made available in their area.”

 

According to the FTTH Council, governments and decision makers will have a crucial role in steering investment and deployment plans towards fibre-based Very High Capacity networks, following the political agreement at EU level on the new Code. National governments will be instrumental in ensuring a consistent implementation across the Member States.

 

Ronan: “The digital transformation of industry and society is underway and will accelerate in the next years. A prerequisite for technologies such as 5G, IoT, eHealth and many more is very high capacity connectivity. It is now clear that fibre is the only future-proof infrastructure capable of enabling fixed and wireless Giga-networks (e.g. 5G) and a plethora of new, innovative technologies and services. Ubiquitous fibre is a prerequisite for Europe’s global digital competitiveness and sustainability, as all the cutting-edge technologies and services that will transform our economy and society will increasingly rely on fibre. In order for Europe to be able to compete on the international scene, the industry and decision makers should speed up investments and roll-out.”

 

“In some regions of the world, the national governments have made of fibre and 5G a clear priority. It is quite noticeable that these very targeted policies are transforming into massive roll-outs with, for example, countries from the MENA region ranking high in terms of household penetration. In our experience, clear political commitment and targets are likely to foster step-change investments. There is already evidence from countries in Europe showing that well-planned and executed national policies can push the public and private investments needed to roll-out fibre infrastructure. The Code gives us the opportunity to take this to the next level and to promote a clear, stable and certain regulatory environment at EU level to reflect the ambitions and needs of tomorrow.”