What are Very High Capacity Networks?

In Article 82 of the Directive (EU) 2018/1972 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the European Electronic Communications Code – the EECC – the legislator, the European Parliament and the Council, entrusted the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) with the task of issuing guidelines on the criteria that a network has to fulfil in order to be considered a Very High Capacity Network (VHCN) – the BEREC Guidelines on Very High Capacity Networks. BEREC determined that any network which fulfils one (or more) of the following four criteria is a VHCN.

Criterion one

Any network providing a fixed-line connection with a fibre roll out at least up to the multi-dwelling building. For example, this criterion is fulfilled in case of Fibre to the Building – “FTTB” – and also in case of Fibre to the Home – “FTTH”.

Criterion two

Any network providing a wireless connection with a fibre roll out up to the base station. For example, this criterion is fulfilled in case of mobile networks with fibre roll out up to the base station or a public WLAN – “WiFi” – network with fibre roll out up to the access point.

Criterion three

Any network providing a fixed-line connection which is capable of delivering, under usual peak-time conditions, services to end-users with a certain Quality of Service (QoS) (see table below).

Criterion four

Any network providing a wireless connection which is capable of delivering, under usual peak-time conditions, services to end-users with a certain QoS (see table below). The threshold values refer to outdoor locations only and to the average value within the coverage area considered.

Quality of Service

All four criteria are based on the definition of the term VHCN in the EECC and criteria three and four also on data collected from network operators.