Competition regulation by the Danish telecoms authority in connection with local and regional fibre network operators
28.10.2021
Question for written answer E-004932/2021
to the Commission
Rule 138
Pernille Weiss (PPE)
On 20 December 2020 the Danish Business Authority (DBA), which is responsible for regulating competition in the telecoms sector in Denmark, designated 12 local and regional fibre network operators – all owned by a local or regional energy company – as having significant market power in a geographically defined submarket. They include nef Fiber, which has only around 4 200 fibre customers. The DBA draft decision of 2 July 2021 imposes very far-reaching access regulation on nef Fiber as regards local physical network access (raw fibre). The DBA delimits geographic submarkets for high-capacity broadband on the basis of energy companies’ electricity distribution areas, as a result of which regulation is targeted on fibre network operators owned by energy companies while other providers go unregulated.
- 1.Does the Commission consider that the objective laid down in EU Telecoms Directive 2018/1972 on equal treatment of providers of electronic communications networks and services is being met if the DBA is targeting regulation on fibre network operators owned by energy companies?
- 2.Does the Commission regard it as compatible with EU Telecoms Directive 2018/1972 – and its work in general to promote investment in fibre networks in the EU – for the DBA to impose financially onerous access regulation on small broadband broadband operators with a few thousand customers, which could lead to a halt in further fibre roll-out investment?