VON Europe - Consultation on State Aid

8/3/2019 VON Europe - Consultation on State Aid

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VON Europe Comments on the revision of the Community

Guidelines for the application of State aid rules in relation to

rapid deployment of broadband networks

Comments on the revision of the Community Guidelines for the application of

State aid rules in relation to rapid deployment of broadband networks

N-Square Consulting on behalf of VON Europe

Kreupelstraat 33

1703 Dilbeek (Brussels) Belgium

Registration number: 61008951870-83


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Comments on the revision of the Community Guidelines for the application of

State aid rules in relation to rapid deployment of broadband networks

by VON Europe, August 2011

Preliminary Remarks

The Voice on the Net Coalition Europe (VON) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the revision

of the Community Guidelines for the application of State aid rules in relation to rapid deployment of

broadband networks (hereafter the Questionnaire).

As a preliminary remark, VON would like to stress that the Commission should continue to rely

primarily on market forces to achieve universal service and broadband deployment goals. Targeted

public funding should hence only be used to promote broadband deployment and availability in

areas where otherwise a roll-out of NGA would not be possible

Moreover, VON considers that State aid beneficiaries should be obliged to comply with a set of

open access requirements on the beneficiaries entire networks to safeguard that access to the

open Internet is ensured at both the wholesale and retail levels.

More details can be found in VONs responses below.

Detailed Responses

1.3. In your view, what are the main technological, market and regulatory developments in this

field since 2009 that should be considered and should have an impact on the content of the revised

Broadband Guidelines?

10.1. You are invited to highlight and explain any other relevant points related to the Broadband

Guidelines.

Ensuring that Europeans continue to benefit from a neutral and open Internet is paramount to the

EUs future economic and social welfare. To quote the European Commission, the end-to-end

principle, a key architectural feature of the Internet, is considered by many to have been a key driver


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of the growth of the Internet to date, and to have facilitated an open environment conducive to the

spectacular levels of innovation seen in online applications, content and services networks.1

VON would like to point out that the fast-moving vertical and horizontal integrations and the

commercial dynamics exemplified within the converging ecosystem (from hardware equipment, to

infrastructure provision, to content and service provision, etc.) by such phenomena as bundling

(i.e. triple or quadruple play bundling voice, broadband Internet, TV and mobile), and the purchase of

exclusive content rights, implies very careful monitoring by relevant authorities to avoid harmful and

other undesirable discriminatory practices, which would have a negative impact for innovation,

consumer choice, trade, etc.

Therefore, VON believes that policymakers and regulators should guarantee that end-users have

access to and can use the Internet services, content, and applications, along with the devices of their

choice. Therefore all attempts, whether regulatory, commercial (be it through prohibition or unduly

surcharging) or technical, to block, degrade or hinder the unfettered access to Voice over IP (VoIP)

(or similar technologies) and more in general to all legal Internet content, applications and services,

including their underlying technologies and protocols, ports used, etc., should be prevented.

VON considers that current attempts to self-regulation in Europe have not proved sufficient to

guarantee an open Internet. This was recently illustrated in Norway, where despite a voluntary net

neutrality code of conduct the second largest mobile services provider still decided to block VoIP on

their network.2

Therefore, VON believes that where State aid is considered, for example for the rollout of next

generation networks in rural areas, the conditions for the beneficiaries of State aid should explicitly

provide for wholesale access obligations at all levels and for a retail-level non-discrimination principle

to safeguard that access to the open Internet is ensured at both the wholesale and retail levels. In

practice, this implies that measures should be taken to ensure that State aid is conditional upon the

obligations that:

1European Commission. (2010, 30 June). Questionnaire for the public consultation on the open Internet and net

neutrality in Europe. p. 5. Retrieved at,http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/ecomm/library/

public_consult/net_neutrality/index_en.htm.2

BEUC. (2011). Net Neutrality in Europe needs to be safeguarded. Letter sent to Ms Neelie Kroes, Vice-President

of the European Commission. p. 2. Retrieved at, http://www.beuc.eu/BEUCNoFrame/Docs/2/

IFMGGBABLLHODCMADAJPJJBLPDWY9DBYW19DW3571KM/BEUC/docs/DLS/2011-00115-01-E.pdf.
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/ecomm/library/%0bpublic_consult/net_neutrality/index_en.htmhttp://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/ecomm/library/%0bpublic_consult/net_neutrality/index_en.htmhttp://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/ecomm/library/%0bpublic_consult/net_neutrality/index_en.htmhttp://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/ecomm/library/%0bpublic_consult/net_neutrality/index_en.htmhttp://www.beuc.eu/BEUCNoFrame/Docs/2/%0bIFMGGBABLLHODCMADAJPJJBLPDWY9DBYW19DW3571KM/BEUC/docs/DLS/2011-00115-01-E.pdfhttp://www.beuc.eu/BEUCNoFrame/Docs/2/%0bIFMGGBABLLHODCMADAJPJJBLPDWY9DBYW19DW3571KM/BEUC/docs/DLS/2011-00115-01-E.pdfhttp://www.beuc.eu/BEUCNoFrame/Docs/2/%0bIFMGGBABLLHODCMADAJPJJBLPDWY9DBYW19DW3571KM/BEUC/docs/DLS/2011-00115-01-E.pdfhttp://www.beuc.eu/BEUCNoFrame/Docs/2/%0bIFMGGBABLLHODCMADAJPJJBLPDWY9DBYW19DW3571KM/BEUC/docs/DLS/2011-00115-01-E.pdfhttp://www.beuc.eu/BEUCNoFrame/Docs/2/%0bIFMGGBABLLHODCMADAJPJJBLPDWY9DBYW19DW3571KM/BEUC/docs/DLS/2011-00115-01-E.pdfhttp://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/ecomm/library/%0bpublic_consult/net_neutrality/index_en.htmhttp://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/ecomm/library/%0bpublic_consult/net_neutrality/index_en.htm


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wholesale access is provided to ducts, poles and antenna sites, to the passive-layer(i.e. copper, coax, fibre, etc.), and to the transmission layer (i.e. Layer 2 Ethernet), that

spectrum-sharing is implemented, and that there is provision of non-capacity constrained

backhaul, etc.;

retail level requirements are implemented to ensure access to third party services (e.g. VoIP),content, and applications for all customers; and,

an any-to-any connectivity obligation is being imposed on the State aid beneficiary.VON considers that State aid beneficiaries should be obliged to comply with these obligations on

their entire networks, not only on the State aid funded parts, be it the existing copper network or the

next generation access fibre based network part. The same holds true for wireless networks. Inparticular, because the State aid funded networks rolled-out in underserved areas interconnect to

the rest of the beneficiaries networks. VON urges the Commission to impose such a set of open

access requirements on the beneficiaries entire networks to ensure that the obligations listed above

are meaningful.

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We thank you in advance for taking consideration of these views. Feel free to contact Herman Rucic,

VON Europe, by phone (+32 (0)478 966701) or email ([email protected]) should you need

further information.

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About the VON Coalition Europe

The Voice on the Net (VON) Coalition Europe was launched in December 2007 by leading Internet

communications and technology companies, on the cutting edge to create an authoritative voice for

the Internet-enabled communications industry. Its current members are iBasis, Google, Microsoft,

Skype, Viber and Voxbone.

The VON Coalition Europe notably focuses on educating and informing policymakers in the European

Union and abroad in order to promote responsible government policies that enable innovation and

the many benefits that Internet voice innovations can deliver.

Documents

VON Europe - Consultation on State Aid