In May, the Commission told the German regulator it had serious concerns about the possible competitive impact. As a result, the BNetzA agreed to amend its decision on four fronts. The changes mean virtual access will no longer be limited to one alternative operator per street cabinet, and DT will also have to make ducts and dark fibre available for two years to operators already at its local exchanges that want to make use of the new virtual access. In addition, BNetzA recently significantly reduced duct access prices, making fibre roll-out to the street cabinet more sustainable.
BNetZA also committed to developing a second, Layer-2 access product with the market. While the technical parameters for this are not yet in place, it is expected to hold a notify the EC "as soon as possible after the summer" on the alternative offer, and hold a further consultation with the market. This wholesale service is expected to compensate for and be a functional substitute of physical unbundling, which will no longer be possible after the DT network upgrade. The new product should be in place before physical unbundling ends.
Finally, the regulator amended the eligibility criteria to allow more alternative operators to claim 'Nahbereiche', resulting in an over 30 percent increase in Nahbereiche, which can be vectored by alternative operators. However, the new proposal also introduces am "all-or-nothing" requirement, which may lead to certain operators not being able to make use of vectoring, the Commission said.
