National regulators will also have to weigh up the range of retail choices available to users to ensure that regulation is not more of a burden than necessary on operators' decisions to invest, the document says. National regulators will be required to monitor the network investment decisions of operators and will have the power to sanction them if they deviate from their declared intentions without justification.
A similar pact was recently introduced in Germany, where Deutsche Telekom received regulatory approval for rolling out VDSL vectoring in exchange for a commitment to upgrade more areas to faster broadband. The German operator will face sanctions if it does not meet the investment goals.
According to the report, the EC's aim is to protect operators that lay fast broadband networks first in areas where there is little financial incentive, such as rural areas, and where the arrival of a second operator would undermine the first's business case. The Commission will also seek to encourage operators to co-invest in shared roll-outs of FTTH by offering them lighter access rules in return. Operators adopting a wholesale-only model, whereby they sell access to their networks to other providers but do not offer consumers their own retail broadband packages, would benefit from lighter rules.
The Commission is expected to present the proposal for reforming the telecom regulatory framework later this month. It will also present proposals for a greater harmonisation of mobile spectrum licensing across the EU. The proposals will be subject to public consultation and approval by the European Parliament and Council before they can take effect.
