Implementation of very high-speed broadband

The implementation of Very High-Speed Broadband (THD) impacts the entire economic ecosystem of a country. Therefore, defining the regulatory framework plays a crucial role. It must promote the deployment of fiber optic and wireless networks while serving the objectives of sector regulation. This means encouraging "appropriate" competition that allows both infrastructure development and amortization.

Ensuring Neutrality in Technological Choices to Encourage Investment

To promote competition, regulations must allow operators to consult on the architectures to be deployed and remain as neutral as possible regarding their techno-economic choices. Such an approach indeed encourages operators to invest in several different technologies (Fiber, 4G, LTE, etc.). It promotes broader territorial coverage and encourages investment and innovation. In principle, the free play of the market leads to the choice of the most efficient technologies, with operators rationally favoring technically or economically optimal solutions. In this context, regulation should not hinder the process of technology selection by the market. Thus, the notion of broadband access today covers both wired and wireless access.

Ensuring the "Right Level of Competition"

However, it is now widely accepted that "open" competition at all network levels is not always suitable for the context of certain countries. The notion of the "right level of competition" is increasingly applied, particularly in the wholesale market. Thus, unbundling is effectively applicable only in high-density fixed areas, and the multiplication of transport networks is disappearing in many countries in favor of the implementation of a single network, managed under the principle of network/service separation.

Defining Realistic Deployment Ambitions

In an open market, the deployment of Very High-Speed Broadband networks must ensure the provision of digital services within reasonable timeframes according to predefined technology, coverage, and competition criteria. The challenge is to meet the expectations of citizens and businesses in terms of services while ensuring the profitability of operators' investments. Therefore, it is up to the regulator to define realistic deployment ambitions in three areas.

• Technological objective: This takes into account the growing demand for bandwidth. It is formulated as neutrally as possible, setting, for example, a minimum bandwidth for each subscriber. Further downstream, it defines levels of symmetry allowing the transition to the 4th generation of telecom services.
• Coverage: This sets the extent of the covered territory. It also defines a coverage objective so that all households and businesses in a serviced area are eventually connected to a network and can benefit from Very High-Speed Broadband services.
• Deployment schedule: This aims to limit the relative feeling of a "digital divide" that residents of later-served areas may experience. It also takes into account the budgetary and economic constraints of operators. Thus, it is common to define, at the national level, a "minimum capacity per client" that can be exceeded in quickly profitable areas.

Ensuring Compliance with Private Operators' Commitments

The cost of deploying fiber is high, and operators are sometimes hesitant to deploy outside very dense areas. Moreover, in the areas they serve, they do not always have an interest in connecting all the existing homes and businesses. There is therefore a high risk that operators will "skim" their service areas and that some households or businesses will never be covered, or will be covered at a prohibitive cost if the construction of a second network is necessary. Spontaneously, operators will therefore only cover a portion of the territory, even if they share the same network, unless they are encouraged by a regulatory framework and receive financial support.

The regulator will therefore require private operators to confirm their deployment commitments and establish clear contractualization specifying the deployment schedule, the annual investment amount, etc.

Setting a Legitimate Framework for Public Intervention

In the absence of contractualization, the regulator will have to set a framework legitimizing the combined intervention of local authorities, where they exist, and the State to ensure compliance with the principle of completeness in the least dense area. This will involve:

• Strengthening the monitoring by the State and the regulator on the progress and homogeneity of deployments throughout the area preempted by operators,
• Deploying, if necessary, a public initiative network (RIP) with the help of the State.

As highlighted by the World Bank, the implementation of broadband thus far exceeds the sole framework of ICT and influences the entire economic ecosystem of a country. Certain strong trends are emerging, particularly in the organization of the wholesale market. For the rest—technological choices, the nature of investments, and the regulation of network governance—each country adapts its regulatory framework to its own context.