INA Academy has successfully completed the training workshop on “Infrastructure Sharing Potential - Consideration of Separation Models”. The workshop has been developed as part of the Regulatory issues Programme, within the ITU Centres of Excellence Network initiative for Europe, and it has been hosted by EEET in Athens, Greece, during the period 10-12th June 2009. The workshop has been very successful, with participants representing Policy Makers, Regulators, operators and vendors from more than 10 countries around the world.

Throughout the three days of the workshop several interesting presentations and discussions took place. All participants engaged into very insightful and thought-provoking debates that assisted into developing some overall directions on the two subjects examined (e.g. NGA infrastructure sharing and separation models). As it is well understood, it is rather difficult to reach tangible and specific conclusions on both of the two areas that have been thoroughly addressed, since any conclusions are greatly dependent on market and country’s respective characteristics and aspirations. However some overall directions/recommendations have been concluded. These are summarized below :


• The business case of a single operator deploying a nation-wide fiber access network is hard to justify. Any additions to existing ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) levels are expected not to be able to fully recover incurred costs. Hence, operators and/or other market players need to join forces in order to proceed with fiber deployments. Financial state-aid and state intervention in general, may well be considered in the overall context of deploying a national fiber-network asset. This is even more relevant when taking into consideration current economic turmoi.l

• Adoption of any “radical” models, as separation models, need on the one hand strong political will and on the other coordination among all players involved. An overarching national plan of the ICT sector development and evolution need to be in place, tighten up with specific targets and timeframes, that will actually be the driver for any such drastic interventions. In parallel, market players directly impacted, as incumbent operators and tier-2 operators, need to be fully persuaded that a move to separation models will yield to significant benefits both for the sector and their operations, creating a “win-win” situation for all stakeholders.

• Implementation of the functional separation model needs to be linked to specific proof of market failure in the relevant retail and/or wholesale markets (e.g. wholesale broadband access, lack of competitive landscape). Based on the national plan of market evolution, Policy Makers and Regulators need to specifically prove, according to a set of qualitative and quantitative indices (e.g. use of econometric models), that current market conditions and regulations in place fail to achieve expected goals. Only when such an analysis is available, industry players should discuss and address the functional separation model as one of the “last resources”.

• On the mobile domain, infrastructure sharing on the passive access network (e.g. masts, towers, shelters) is already in place. However, a common issue in most of SEE countries has been the processes and timings involved with site-acquisition. A more stable and well-defined legal framework needs to be in place in order to facilitate sharing of towers, leading to expected benefits in a timely manner.


View the draft agenda here.