European Commission endorses Danish plan to open wholesale access to cable network
The European Commission has approved the Danish telecom operator’s new rules to force TDC (the largest Danish cable company) to open up its cable broadband network to competitors. The Commission’s move does not mean all large cable operators around Europe will have to do the same. Unlike other EU member states, Denmark’s incumbent telecoms operator, TDC, also controls large parts of the cable network. The Danish regulator is merely extending obligations that already exist for TDC’s telecoms network to its cable network.
“I entirely share the Danish telecoms regulator’s concern that in the absence of cable regulation in Denmark, alternative operators might be hindered in their ability to offer high capacity internet services to their customers,” said Viviane Reding, the EU Telecoms Commissioner. “In today’s Europe, with an increasing demand for high speed broadband access services we cannot take the risk that alternative operators are foreclosed from this important market segment. This is why the Commission endorses NITA’s proposal to extend wholesale broadband access regulation to cable in Denmark.”
According to the European Commission, national regulators in Europe ensure that incumbent operators provide wholesale access to their broadband internet networks in order to promote competition in the provision of broadband internet access services. Regulation is generally limited to their telecoms networks (so called xDSL (Digital Subscriber Line) networks). However, in Denmark, the largest cable TV network is also controlled by the incumbent telecoms operator, TDC. In July 2008 TDC held 58% of market for retail broadband services. Alternative operators using TDC’s copper network together accounted for less than 20% of the market, while companies operating on other infrastructures possessed slightly more than 20%.
“In a substantial part of Denmark, the two infrastructures capable of providing broadband internet access services, which would otherwise compete with each other for consumers, are under the control of TDC. Due to these specific national circumstances, in the absence of cable regulation TDC would have the ability and incentives to circumvent existing rules on providing wholesale access to broadband which are currently limited to broadband over the fixed phone network (DSL). NITA’s proposal to require TDC to allow other operators to access its cable network to provide services should enable alternative operators to continue competing with TDC, to the ultimate benefit of consumers.”
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