the road to the digital agenda targets from a regulator’s perspective

The road to the digital agenda targets from a regulator’s perspective

Analysys Mason Seminar

Cambridge, October 21st 2014

Reinhard LaroyEngineer Advisor , BIPTLecturer ICT & Media, KU Leuven

Outline

Market Context

Regulatory intervention

Implementation

Conclusions

2

NGA infrastructure roll out

Belgium has one of the largest coverages of NGA networks in EU:- 90% VDSL2- 93% Eurodocsis 3.0

Source: Cullen, June 20143

Belgium best in class for high speed uptake

Source: Digital agenda scorecard, European Commission, 2014

Broadband penetration (+30 Mbps)Subscription as % of pop – Jan 2014

NGA subscription (Docsis 3.0 and other NGA) as of total broadband subscription – Jan 2014

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

IT

CY

EL

SI

FR

ES

AT

EE

CZ

MT

SK

DE

EU

FI

PL

BG

HU

UK

LU

IE

PT

DK

RO

LV

SE

LT

NL

BE

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

HRCYELIT

FRATDEESLUEUSKUKIE

HUSIFI

EEDKCZPL

MTLTPTSENLLVBGROBE

4

BE: competition cable-DSL

5

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

S12005

S22005

S12006

S22006

S12007

S22007

S12008

S22008

S12009

S22009

S12010

S22010

S12011

S22011

S12012

S22012

S12013

S22013

Mar

ket

shar

e

DSL

Cable

The role of the regulator?

Regulator adaptsframework to

give incentive tonew technology

roll-out

Operator deploys new

technology andlaunches new products withhigher speeds

Equipment vendor develops

andcommercialisesnew technology

6

Technology impact of vectoring

7Source: Alcatel Lucent

Single DSLAM per copper line required

Vectoring needed for level playing field copper - cable

8

Docsis 3> 100 Mbps

VDSL<50 Mbps

Regulatory framework 2010

Commission Recommendation 2010/572/EU of 20 September 2010 on regulated access toNext Generation Access Networks (NGA) –Article 29:

“NRAs should impose an obligation of unbundledaccess to the copper sub-loop. (…)”

9

BIPT decision July 1st

2011

No business case for sub loop unbundling

Vectoring

Low LLU penetration (6% in 2010)

Level playing field with Cable

Regulation needs to sendthe right investments signals… Vector friendly framework

Removal of sub loop unbundling

obligation

10

… but the level of competition needs to be guaranteed as well

Pro competitive measures in BIPT decision July 1st 2011

Bitstream should be enhanced enough to allow OLOs to compete effectively at the retail level

OLOs should be able to replicate the incumbent’s retail vectoring improvements based on bitstream offer: adapt wholesale offer 6 months before the retail launch

Add multicast functionality

11

Enhanced WBA VDSL2 bitstream

12

Internet

OLO BAS

OLOEthernetnetwork

Access Line

End-user LEX

IP-DSLAM

fiber

VDSL2

Modem

Copper pair

Ethernet

BackboneR

KVD

ROP

WBA VDSL2 is offering an Ethernet connectivity between the end user and the OLO Access Line (OAL) including multicast

2 types of cross-connect are foreseen C-VLAN cross-connect for residential subscribers

S-VLAN cross-connect for business subscribers

2 types of backhaul transport service Shared VLAN

Dedicated VLAN

4 QoS priority services defined – Using Ethernet p-bit

Belgacom and Alcatel-Lucent pave the way for next generation

broadband in EuropeAlcatel-Lucent and Belgacom, the largest telecommunications company in Belgium, are introducing breakthrough innovations to increase access speeds to the Internet.Building on a long history of pioneering innovations, the two companies are introducing the latest state-of-the-art technology to enhance the offering of broadband services throughout Belgium. Thanks to an ambitious joint-development program with Alcatel-Lucent, Belgacom will boost performance over its national triple-play network to provide guaranteed speeds of 50 megabits per second and beyond, setting a new standard of quality forBelgian citizens as of 2014. This will be realised thanks to the world’s first commercial introduction of VDSL2 Vectoring.

Investment decision shortly afterthe market analysis decision

13

Press release Belgacom – Alcatel Lucent 27th September 2011

Belgacom launchedvectoring in February 2014

14Source: Belgacom-Alcatel Lucent, 2014

Invest in Fixed Zoom- in: Vectoring working live in our network today

Belgacom is First in the World with nationwide activation of the Vectoring technology on an existing VDSL2

network for a significantly better broadband experience

Powerful vectoring technology

Through cancellation of crosstalk on a VDSL2 line,

Vectoring proofs to enable remarkably higher speeds

Results from the technical field trials

In-depth technical field trials were conducted involving

1000+ customers with both moderate, high and excessive

crosstalk

• Speed boost to 70 Mbps – 98% of Vectored lines < 400m in the

technical field trial synchronised to 70Mbps

• Videograde quality maintained – 98% of vectored lines adhere to

the required high-quality videograde criteria of IPTV

• No impact on installed-base – Performance of existing modem

installed base is fully maintained after Vectoring activation

1

2

3

Effect of enabling Vectoring on VDSL2 lines part of the Technical Field Trials (in Mbps)

FROM

TO

2

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

Attenuation

Atta

ina

ble

bitra

te in

Mb

ps0

Capping at 70

Mbps video-

grade speed

Slide 48

Conclusions

New technology might have an impact on regulatory framework

Regulators need to evaluate this impact.

Create incentive to deploy

Guarantee level of competition

15