EU regulator Berec has released its draft guidelines for defining very high capacity networks. These are open for public comment until 24 April, and Berec aims to publish the final version by December.
The concept of very high capacity networks was introduced in the EU's Electronic Communications Code, which took effect at the end of 2018 and must be implemented by EU states by the end of 2020. One of the regulatory code's aims is to promote the development and access to high-speed networks, and key to this is first defining very high capacity networks. Under certain terms, wholesale operators of such networks may benefit from a lighter regulatory touch, and EU regulators must take into account plans to roll out very high capacity networks when regulating broadband services. National telecom regulators are expected to use Berec's guidelines in developing their own regulations, to ensure a common approach across the EU.
The EU code considers very high capacity networks to be a fibre connection delivered at least to the multiple-dwelling building for fixed networks or a fibre connection to a base station for wireless networks. To this, Berec added more detailed criteria that could also qualify a very high capacity network, such as down- and uplink, resilience, error-related parameters, and latency.
For fixed connections, the criteria include a download speed of at least 1 Gbps, upload speed of at least 200 Mbps, packet error ratio of no more than 0.05 percent, packet loss ratio of no more than 0.0025 percent and round-trip packet delay of at most 10 ms.
For wireless connections, the criteria include at least 150 Mbps download, 50 Mbps upload, packet error of no more than 0.01 percent, packet loss at no more than 0.005 percent and packet delay of 25 ms or less.
