The European Commission (EC) has approved proposals from UK regulator Ofcom to mandate virtual unbundling of BT's fibre network, but requests full unbundling as soon as possible. It has decided to accept, in view of the specific circumstances of the case, the proposal of Ofcom to oblige BT to provide 'virtual' access to its optical fibre infrastructure to alternative operators. Ofcom's proposal will allow product differentiation and innovation similar to that possible through physical local loop unbundling. Ofcom's plans will maintain competition on UK broadband markets following the roll-out of next generation access (NGA) networks by allowing alternative operators to offer competitive broadband services on these networks. However, the Commission underlined that this should only be a transitional measure and that full fibre unbundling should be imposed as soon as technically and economically possible. The Commission decision concerns UK markets for wholesale local access (i.e. access to the local loop) and wholesale broadband access.
