The European market
Tactis According to the firm, if Europe is less advanced than the United States or Japan in the field of fibre optics, it is because the operators have yet to find a viable economic model. The sharing of infrastructure would be the best track.
The European market broadband seems to lag compared to the United States or Japan. According to recent figures from Idate (*), approximately one million Europeans had at the end of 2007 a fibre access, with less than 50000 in France, compared to 2 million in the United States and eleven million in Japan.
For Tactis consulting firm, the delay is not due to a deficiency of demand, but "the lack of economic models that would justify the huge investments required for the construction of new infrastructure."
Clearly, the players have doubts as to the right formula, with the objective of a return on investment. By way of illustration, a network fiber costs five to ten times more than a mobile network. It would cost between 10 and 20 billion euros to create from scratch a network covering 80% of households french.
The disparate situations in the world
Why not use the American and Japanese models? "The markets are very different, and the models are therefore not transferable," explains Stephane ZDNet.fr Lelux, president of Tactis.
In the United States, cable operators have 60% of Internet access, for example, against 5% in France, where it is the telecom operators that dominate the sector. But it's much easier to change a cable network to optical fiber, as is done in France Numericable, partly because the wiring for television (coaxial) is already installed in buildings and supports fully the very high speed .
"In Japan, the aviation infrastructure, so the poles, is much more developed than any other fixed infrastructure for seismic reasons," we Tactis home. These infrastructures are in the hands of many electricity companies. The competition is tough: as a result, access to infrastructure is cheaper.
Incumbent foot dragging in Europe
In France, as in the rest of Europe, is the context. In most cases, an incumbent has the necessary infrastructure to deliver the fiber, starting with the fork used for telephone cables. This dominant player already the market for broadband access by ADSL, it is not inclined to open at a new technology that could change its position of strength. It indeed is reluctant to open its infrastructure to other operators so that they will benefit from the fibre.
"The incumbents do not see the relevance, in terms of profitability, to accelerate the changeover of DSL to the FTTH (fiber to the subscriber)," says Tactis as well.
In this situation, two economic models are possible for operators wishing to deploy a fiber. The first is to be the first to deploy a network to homes in areas with high market potential. When other players will want to come here, they propose to lease its infrastructure. "This is creating a lot of monopolies, which, we believe, is not the solution with the greatest future," considers, however, the consulting firm.
Towards a shared infrastructure?
Another model, to which could turn the majority of actors: the creation of a shared infrastructure, where each player will bring its participation, starting with the incumbent, but also communities and, of course, the smaller operators. Managed in a neutral way, by an independent entity, the network would then be leased under fair conditions to different operators, which will then compete on services and not on the network. According Tactis, it would be "good economic sense".
As we mentioned recently, this model is not necessary in the case french. The operators, starting with Free, for the moment trying to pre-empt geographical areas in order to lease their networks to prospective entrants. And faced with doubts trustees, who are reluctant to give them access to buildings. But according Tactis, operators still have not arrested and are still to change their strategies for France.
And this is not so bad. "You have to relativize the importance of the European delay the deployment of fiber," concludes Stéphane Lelux. "We have developed very ADSL networks, which give us the time to prepare the transition to the fiber. Both take advantage of it to avoid creating new monopolies.
The European market broadband seems to lag compared to the United States or Japan. According to recent figures from Idate (*), approximately one million Europeans had at the end of 2007 a fibre access, with less than 50000 in France, compared to 2 million in the United States and eleven million in Japan.
For Tactis consulting firm, the delay is not due to a deficiency of demand, but "the lack of economic models that would justify the huge investments required for the construction of new infrastructure."
Clearly, the players have doubts as to the right formula, with the objective of a return on investment. By way of illustration, a network fiber costs five to ten times more than a mobile network. It would cost between 10 and 20 billion euros to create from scratch a network covering 80% of households french.
The disparate situations in the world
Why not use the American and Japanese models? "The markets are very different, and the models are therefore not transferable," explains Stephane ZDNet.fr Lelux, president of Tactis.
In the United States, cable operators have 60% of Internet access, for example, against 5% in France, where it is the telecom operators that dominate the sector. But it's much easier to change a cable network to optical fiber, as is done in France Numericable, partly because the wiring for television (coaxial) is already installed in buildings and supports fully the very high speed .
"In Japan, the aviation infrastructure, so the poles, is much more developed than any other fixed infrastructure for seismic reasons," we Tactis home. These infrastructures are in the hands of many electricity companies. The competition is tough: as a result, access to infrastructure is cheaper.
Incumbent foot dragging in Europe
In France, as in the rest of Europe, is the context. In most cases, an incumbent has the necessary infrastructure to deliver the fiber, starting with the fork used for telephone cables. This dominant player already the market for broadband access by ADSL, it is not inclined to open at a new technology that could change its position of strength. It indeed is reluctant to open its infrastructure to other operators so that they will benefit from the fibre.
"The incumbents do not see the relevance, in terms of profitability, to accelerate the changeover of DSL to the FTTH (fiber to the subscriber)," says Tactis as well.
In this situation, two economic models are possible for operators wishing to deploy a fiber. The first is to be the first to deploy a network to homes in areas with high market potential. When other players will want to come here, they propose to lease its infrastructure. "This is creating a lot of monopolies, which, we believe, is not the solution with the greatest future," considers, however, the consulting firm.
Towards a shared infrastructure?
Another model, to which could turn the majority of actors: the creation of a shared infrastructure, where each player will bring its participation, starting with the incumbent, but also communities and, of course, the smaller operators. Managed in a neutral way, by an independent entity, the network would then be leased under fair conditions to different operators, which will then compete on services and not on the network. According Tactis, it would be "good economic sense".
As we mentioned recently, this model is not necessary in the case french. The operators, starting with Free, for the moment trying to pre-empt geographical areas in order to lease their networks to prospective entrants. And faced with doubts trustees, who are reluctant to give them access to buildings. But according Tactis, operators still have not arrested and are still to change their strategies for France.
And this is not so bad. "You have to relativize the importance of the European delay the deployment of fiber," concludes Stéphane Lelux. "We have developed very ADSL networks, which give us the time to prepare the transition to the fiber. Both take advantage of it to avoid creating new monopolies.
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3:49 PM
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