Infrastructure sharing experience in Lithuania Natalija Gelvanovska Access

Infrastructure sharing experience in Lithuania Natalija Gelvanovska Access and Networks Section RRT N. Gelvanovska

Content • Infrastructure sharing: – Legal framework; – Current issues: • Duct sharing (access): – Concerns; • Sharing of in-house facilities; • Infrastructure construction: – Recent legislative developments; – Co-building: • Proposal of legal framework. Infrastructure sharing experience Nida, 10 -11 September 2009 N. Gelvanovska 2 psl

Infrastructure Sharing Legal framework • Symmetrical obligation: – Symmetrical infrastructure (facility) sharing obligation is established under the Law of Electronic Communications in place since 2004: • Detailed regulation in place – since 2005; • Main principles: − Applicable to all legal and natural persons owing infrastructure which is suitable for the construction of electronic communications networks; − Defined list of grounds for denial to share infrastructure; − Ex-post price regulation: cost orientation; − First instance for infrastructure sharing disputes – RRT. Infrastructure sharing experience Nida, 10 -11 September 2009 N. Gelvanovska 3 psl

Infrastructure Sharing Duct Access – Commercial product which developed under the infrastructure sharing regulation: • Without insistent regulatory pressure. – Reference offer from the incumbent for Duct access available since 2005: • Without explicit transparency regulation. – ~ every second operator in Lithuania is using duct access service: • 160 electronic network and service providers (Source: RRT, 1 Q 2009); • 78 of them use duct access service (Source: RRT). – Main provider of duct access is incumbent. Among other providers are: • ISPs, Cable TV operators, providers of Dark fiber, Utility providers. Infrastructure sharing experience Nida, 10 -11 September 2009 N. Gelvanovska 4 psl

Infrastructure Sharing Duct Access – Current concerns • Growing number of disputes and complaints indicates that following issues should be decided in near time: – Stale information on existing duct routes: routes • Operators in order to obtain duct access are required to provide map indicating the duct routes which they intend to rent; • Information on duct routes is available from municipalities; • Since 2009 new ducts are not registered within national register of real estate. – Electronic map of duct routes: • Incumbent argues the development of e-map of duct routes would incur huge investments and therefore is not economically justified; • Only few e-maps are available across EU, i. e. Portugal, Spain. • Access to the e-map is usually quite expensive: – i. e. 60 000 EUR per year in Spain. • At the moment RRT is considering possibility to develop common e-map. Infrastructure sharing experience Nida, 10 -11 September 2009 N. Gelvanovska 5 psl

Infrastructure Sharing Duct Access – Current concerns (2) − Significant number of complaints is related to determination of free space in the conduits: conduits • Traditionally permission to thread the cable was granted in case occupied space in the conduit is not exceeding 75%: 75% − At the moment no agreement among market players on calculation of 75%. . . − Legal framework is based on technical feasibility; − Incumbent has made methodology proposal: • • Up to 16%-24% of total conduit surface may be occupied; • Discriminatory and not consistent with the practice applied. RRT intends to propose a methodology for calculation of free space in the conduit: − a public consultation will be launched in autumn 2009; − methodology should be agreed among market players and ensure transparency in case of disputes. Infrastructure sharing experience Nida, 10 -11 September 2009 N. Gelvanovska 6 psl

Infrastructure Sharing In-house facility sharing • Among other concerns are in-house facility sharing issues: − Numerous complains and inquires from both ISPs and Communities of apartment houses; − RRT concluded that Communities usually abuse their power. Observed manifestation: • a requirement of unjustified payments and (or) • a discrimination among ISPs. − Under infrastructure sharing obligation Communities are obliged to provide access to in-house facilities for network construction: • RRT works towards increase of transparency in this area. N. Gelvanovska 7 psl

Infrastructure Construction Recent legislative developments • • Undertaken amendments intend to solve problems linked to construction of electronic communications networks in the areas of green field housing developments; Following legislative amendments were completed: – In April, 2009 Ministry of Environment updated Technical Regulation for construction of Housing Development. After the update Regulation: • includes requirement, among systems of other utilities, to engineer electronic communications system in blocks of apartments; • is linked with RRT regulation on construction of Electronic communications networks. – In May, 2009 RRT updated above regulation in order to: • explicitly cover infrastructure construction in blocks of apartments: – focusing on inlets to the buildings, ducting and in-house wiring; – Defined proportions and dimensions are committed to avoid infrastructure sharing bottlenecks in the future. Infrastructure sharing experience Nida, 10 -11 September 2009 N. Gelvanovska 8 psl

Infrastructure Construction Co-building: legislative proposal • • In April, 2009 RRT submitted for Public consultation legislative proposal for cobuilding procedure: − Intends to decrease costs of construction: • relevant for construction of passive infrastructure, e. g. ducts, towers. According to the proposed framework: Notification Dedicated web site Application Agreement of joint construction Network construction • In June, 2009 RRT hosted a public consideration of comments received from the market players. Among issues concluded: − Shorter terms for application submission; − Dispute resolution guidelines. − Amended Project was posted for second public consultation. Infrastructure sharing experience Nida, 10 -11 September 2009 N. Gelvanovska 9 psl

Communications Regulatory Authority of the Republic of Lithuania www. rrt. lt Infrastructure sharing experience Nida, 10 -11 September 2009 N. Gelvanovska 10 psl