Progressive copper switch-off
A full fibre environment brings huge economic benefits, most of all by boosting productivity in all industries and service sectors for which high speed and reliable connectivity are essential. Besides this, the move to fibre brings many spillover advantages (positive economic externalities). These externalities range from a reduction of energy consumption in telecoms and a reduction in overall operational cost to more competitive telecommunications markets.
Setting a date for copper switch- off with a clear path towards migration would send a strong signal to the sector. Not only does a definite copper switch-off date create certainty for investors and incentives for investment, it is also important in the context of service development as well as critical for the green transition.
However, as long as copper and fibre networks are operated in parallel, these positive externalities will be limited. To achieve copper shut down, and in order to avoid the pitfalls that can arise in the shut-down process, the Commission will need to issue guidelines for NRAs. These Guidelines need to set out the practical details of the shut-down process and ensure that there will be safeguards to protect competition from strategic anti-competitive behaviour from incumbents (including safeguards against anticompetitive duplication of networks). Provisions may also need to be made in areas where some form of access product is required post switch-off in a range of scenarios.
The copper switch-off process requires close monitoring, and preferably co-ordination, by NRAs. A copper switch-off can only be envisaged when FTTH coverage in the respective area is sufficient. At the same time, copper networks must be shut off without delay where sufficient FTTH coverage has been attained.
Transparency
Users are often not properly informed about what they are buying due to loose advertising that suggests that consumers are buying a fully fibred connection and use of the word ‘fiber/fibre’ in advertising even where the network in question is a hybrid network1. While this is addressed in some jurisdictions (with a corresponding impact on take-up rates), many Member States do not have strict rules around advertising.
The mislabelling of product has an important distortive effect on consumer choices and in turn, these misinformed choices send inappropriate investment signals to retail and wholesale operators.
If consumers do not understand what they are buying then they cannot send appropriate investment signals to market operators.
Read more about the demand drivers in the study on FTTH Adoption.
1https://corporate.orange.be/en/news-medias/orange-belgium-shakes-fixed-internet-and-launches-its-new-gigabit-speed-fiber1offers#:~:text=%5B2%5D%20For%20customers%20who%20prefer,of%2014%2F01%2F2024.