Call for contributions of interested Stakeholders on BEREC Report on Member States' best practices to support the defining of adequate broadband internet access service (IAS) within the framework of the universal service

24 May 2023

In 2020 BEREC published the first report on Member States’ best practices to support the defining of adequate broadband Internet Access Service (IAS) (document reference BoR (20) 99).

Article 84 (1) of the EECC states that the Member States, within the framework of the universal service provision, shall ensure that all consumers in their territories have access at an affordable price, in light of specific national conditions, to an adequate broadband internet access service and to voice communications services, which are available, at the quality specified in their territories, including the underlying connection, at a fixed location.

Article 84 (3) further provides that each Member State shall, in light of national conditions and the minimum bandwidth enjoyed by the majority of consumers within the territory of that Member State and taking into account the BEREC report on best practices, define the broadband internet access service for the purposes of paragraph 1 with a view to ensuring the bandwidth necessary for social and economic participation in society. The adequate broadband internet access service shall be capable of delivering the bandwidth necessary for supporting at least the minimum set of services set out in Annex V.

The same paragraph states that the report shall be updated regularly to reflect technological advances and changes in consumer usage patterns.

With regard to the above, this hereby is a call for input concerning best practices to support the defining of adequate broadband internet access service (IAS), which gives stakeholders the opportunity for early involvement in the development of the “BEREC Report on Member States' best practices to support the defining of adequate broadband internet access service (IAS)”, before the relevant Public Consultation.

The projected report is intended to cover the following issues:

  • the policy principle - Article 84 of the Directive (EU) 2018/1972
  • relevant experience that BEREC can focus on
  • State of play of definition of adequate broadband in the context of universal service (definition, Methodology used in defining the adequate broadband internet access service, obligations, funding, monitoring, and compliance)

The Report should also address the issues related to challenges the Member States face implementing adequate broadband internet access service if such are indicated.

Please note that BEREC does not intend to provide individual responses to inputs or publish stakeholder inputs. Contributions should be sent preferably in English.

Stakeholders will have an opportunity (at a later stage) to provide their further submissions to BEREC when the Report on Member States' best practices to support the defining of adequate broadband internet access service (IAS) is going to be in Public Consultation in Autumn this year.

This call for inputs is intended to inform BEREC of the views of stakeholders related to best practices to support the defining of adequate broadband internet access service (IAS).

Stakeholders are kindly invited to share their views on the following matters:

  1. Relevant experiences or criteria considered useful to support Member States in defining the adequate broadband internet access service.
  2. Minimum requirements for defining the adequate broadband internet access service within the framework of the universal service provision (e.g. upload and download speed, data volume, etc.).
  3. Point of view on whether other services, further to the ones listed in Annex V of EECC, should be considered as needed for social and economic inclusion.
  4. Criteria of end-users benefiting from universal service provision.
  5. Affordability (e.g. maximum retail price, special retail prices for special user groups, etc.) and/or availability measures (e.g. geographical territories, distance from the existing network, connection cost, etc.) necessary to ensure access to adequate broadband internet access service.

Answers would be highly appreciated by 9 June 2023 COB and should be sent to: [email protected].