BoR (11) 06b BEREC report NGA Country Cases - IRG

BoR (11) 06b
required so that competitors are informed about such decommissioning a reasonable
period in advance, thereby avoiding discriminatory situations? 2
YES, an announcement four years before decommissioning a given MDF should be given
by the incumbent. The incumbent is mandated to compensate alternative operators if
announced decommission is not accomplished. This is to avoid a situation where the
incumbent announces more MDF‟s to be decommissioned than what is the reality, causing
the alt. operators not to make planned investments on a given MDF.
� Elaborate on the rationale for allowing or not allowing a decommissioning of MDFs, and
any conditions involved. E.g., approval for a phase-out may be made contingent upon the
availability of an equivalent alternative wholesale product. 3
Decommission is not contingent on any conditions (except it should comply with the
announcement rules). NITA finds that alternatives such as BSA or establishment in the
cabinet (sub loop unbundling) exists in any case (however not last mentioned will not
necessarily have a business case).
� In its report “NGA – Implementation Issues and Best Practice” 4 BEREC suggested that “in
addition to the reference offer – wholesale customers should be able to obtain relevant
information on roll-out of new infrastructures or technologies per geographical area. A
reasonable window of announcement is necessary to create a level playing field on the
retail market”.
- Explain if such provisions are applied and what they look like.
(Same answer as in 3.3.d). The incumbent is mandated to give announcement when new
cabinets are established. The announcement shall be given six months in advance as a
minimum. The announcement shall also contain information as e.g. geographic coverage,
number of end-users connected to a cabinet, which customers (the alternative operators
current customers) are affected, average length of copper lines, available backhaul
possibilities (ducts, dark fibre, transmission capacity).
- Elaborate on your practical experiences with such provisions (e.g. have there been any
practical problems with enforcing such provisions?).
2 BoR (10) 98, p. 9 suggests “Information on phasing out legacy wholesale service should be
announced a reasonable period in advance to avoid discriminatory situations” whereas the Draft
NGA Recommendation envisaged (Art. 39) a general five year transitional period.
3 See ERG (07) 16rev2, Ch. 4.5.2 and in particular the flow-chart diagram illustrating procedural
issues in the substitution phase.
4 BoR (10) 08; Chapter E.2, p. 9.
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