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EC to recommend technology for fibre access

The European Commission (EC) is planning to issue a recommendation before the summer on how member states should go about rolling out fibre connectivity to homes and businesses, according to the article on ZDnet. Ken Ducatel, a member of information commissioner Viviane Reding's cabinet, said that the recommendation would address a preferred technical method for rolling out next-generation access.

The EC is talking about the fact that many network suppliers are attracted to a passive optical network (PON) architecture because it keeps costs down by sharing the fibre medium. But PON rollouts also raise competitive issues, because it's unclear how PON infrastructure can be shared between operators. Active Ethernet, on the other hand, is much easier to unbundle.

Should the EC get involved in deciding which technology is used in fibre access?

Posted by Pauline Rigby on March 3, 2008 2:02 PM | Permalink