BEREC report on the Implementation of the Broadband Cost Reduction Directive

The broadband cost reduction directive (BCRD) aims to facilitate and incentivise the roll-out of high-speed electronic communications networks by promoting the joint use of existing physical infrastructure and by enabling a more efficient deployment of new physical infrastructure so that such networks can be rolled out at lower cost. Member States were required to adopt and publish the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the BCRD by 1 January 2016 and to apply those measures from 1 July 2016.

The BRCD in particular contains rules with regard to access to existing physical infrastructure, coordination of civil works and access to in-building physical infrastructure. In case the involved parties are not able to reach an agreement or access is refused, either party is entitled to refer the issue to the competent national dispute settlement body (DSB). The BCRD also foresees measures to increase the transparency concerning physical infrastructure and planned civil works and defines which information should be available via a single information point (SIP). Finally the BRCD requires that information regarding permit-granting procedures is also available via the SIP.

NRA may be involved in the implementation of the BCRD e.g. in the role of the DSB and/or the SIP. BEREC already held a workshop in October 2016 in order to exchange information and experience so far on the state of play of the implementation and related challenges. This report goes one step further and examines the implementation of the BCRD in more detail.

In order to get a deeper insight in the implementation of the BCRD and to foster the exchange of experiences between NRAs this report has the following three objectives. It aims

• to give an overview on which tasks of the BCRD were appointed to NRAs and whether the NRAs already started their activities on a general level based on information from all 28 EU countries;
• to give an overview of the implementation of the tasks appointed to the NRAs based on the experiences of 16 EU countries with regard to the DSB and seven EU countries with regard to the SIP; and
• to provide a more detailed description of the implementation by NRAs of the DSB in five EU countries and of the SIP in six EU countries.

The analysis is descriptive and does not aim to be normative or recommend best practice.