Speakers bio

Wilhelm regularly participates in national and international working groups in the area of NGA and NGN. He is Co-Chair of the NGN expert working group of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC).

Before he joined the Austrian Regulatory Authority for Broadcasting and Telecommunications in 2001 he worked eight years for the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Wilhelm holds an MSc in Electrical Engineering and a PhD in Technical Sciences from Vienna University of Technology.

Abstract

The presentation provides an overview of the results of the BEREC report ‘New forms of sharing passive optical networks based on wavelengths division multiplexing’ that BEREC published in October 2017. New forms of sharing passive optical networks (PON) have become possible, in particular with the adoption of the new PON standard NG-PON2 (G.989.2) that was approved at the end of 2014. The presentation begins with an overview of PON technologies and the current and expected future deployment of NG-PON2. Then it analyses whether wavelength unbundling has been imposed in any of the EU countries in which national regulatory authorities had taken a decision on the wholesale local access market (Market 3a) since the standardisation of NG-PON2. It also discusses aspects that may be useful for national regulatory authorities to take into account when considering whether or not to impose wavelength unbundling on the significant market power (SMP) operator. Finally, it explores whether wavelength unbundling based on NG-PON2 might increase network operators’ interest in co-investing in PON.