Germany’s network regulator, the Federal Network Agency (FNA), has set the price for use of incumbent telco Deutsche Telekom’s (DT’s) fibre-optic and VDSL infrastructure. The watchdog has established the monthly charge for access to DT’s VDSL network at EUR0.12 (USD0.16) per metre, while the price of access in the multi-function cabinet, which has a maximum of four slots, has been set at EUR113.94. As reported by CommsUpdate, DT applied to the FNA in January 2010 proposing a charge of EUR173.32 per month for access in the multi-function cabinet, while access to the incumbent’s cable channels was requested to be set at EUR0.43 per metre. The new charges are valid until 30 June 2011.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, the FNA unveiled the conditions under which DT must provide competitors access to its VDSL network in December 2009, after the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that the agency must no longer grant DT a ‘regulatory holiday’ regarding its fibre-optic infrastructure. Prior to the introduction of the relevant regulation, the Bonn-based company had successfully argued that the scale of its investment, and the fact that it constituted a new market, meant that the fibre-optic network should be exempt from competition.