Presentation given at Analysys Mason seminar 2014 about the future of EU regulation.

1. The road to the digital agenda targets
from a regulator’s perspective
Analysys Mason Seminar
Cambridge, October 21st 2014
Reinhard Laroy
Engineer Advisor , BIPT
Lecturer ICT & Media, KU Leuven

2. Outline
Market Context
Regulatory intervention
Implementation
Conclusions
2

3. 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 2014
3

4. Belgium best in class for high
speed uptake
Broadband penetration (+30 Mbps)
Subscription as % of pop – Jan 2014
BE
NL
LT
SE
LV
RO
DK
PT
IE
LU
UK
HU
BG
PL
FI
EU
DE
SK
MT
CZ
EE
AT
ES
FR
SI
EL
CY
Source: Digital agenda scorecard, European Commission, 2014
NGA subscription (Docsis 3.0 and other NGA)
as of total broadband subscription – Jan 2014
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%
IT
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
BE
RO
BG
LV
NL
SE
PT
LT
MT
PL
CZ
DK
EE
FI
SI
HU
IE
UK
SK
EU
LU
ES
DE
AT
FR
IT
EL
CY
HR
4

5. BE: competition cable-DSL
5
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
S1
2005
S2
2005
S1
2006
S2
2006
S1
2007
S2
2007
S1
2008
S2
2008
S1
2009
S2
2009
S1
2010
S2
2010
S1
2011
S2
2011
S1
2012
S2
2012
S1
2013
S2
2013
Market share
DSL
Cable

6. The role of the regulator?
Regulator adapts
framework to
give incentive to
new technology
roll-out
Operator
deploys new
technology and
launches new
products with
higher speeds
Equipment
vendor develops
and
commercialises
new technology
6

7. Technology impact of vectoring
7
Single DSLAM per copper line required
Source: Alcatel Lucent

8. Vectoring needed for
level playing field copper - cable
8
Docsis 3
> 100 Mbps
VDSL
<50 Mbps

9. Regulatory framework 2010
Commission Recommendation 2010/572/EU
of 20 September 2010 on regulated access to
Next Generation Access Networks (NGA) –
Article 29:
“NRAs should impose an obligation of unbundled
access to the copper sub-loop. (…)”
9

10. Regulation needs to send
the right investments signals…
 Vector friendly framework
BIPT
decision
July 1st
2011
No business case for
sub loop unbundling
Vectoring
Low LLU penetration
(6% in 2010)
Level playing field with
Cable
Removal of sub
loop unbundling
obligation
10

11. … 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

12. Enhanced WBA VDSL2 bitstream
 WBA VDSL2 is offering an Ethernet connectivity between the end
Internet
12
OLO BAS
user and the OLO Access Line (OAL) including multicast
OLO
Ethernet
network
Access Line
IP-DSLAM
fiber
VDSL2
Modem
Copper pair
KVD
End-user LEX
Ethernet
R Backbone
ROP
 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

13. Investment decision shortly after
the market analysis decision
Belgacom and Alcatel-Lucent pave the way for next generation
broadband in Europe
Alcatel-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 for
Belgian citizens as of 2014. This will be realised thanks to the world’s first
commercial introduction of VDSL2 Vectoring.
13
Press release Belgacom – Alcatel Lucent
27th September 2011

14. Belgacom
launched
vectoring in
February 2014
14
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
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
Capping at 70
Mbps video-grade
speed
Attenuation
Attainable bitrate in Mbps0
Source: Belgacom-Alcatel Lucent, 2014
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)
TO
FROM
2
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Slide 48

15. 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

16. Thank You for your attention
Questions?
© 2014 - Reinhard Laroy – Reinhard.Laroy@BIPT.be