Estate Living September 2016 Digital Issue | Page 61

THE DETAILED STUFF
THE LAST MILE TO THE HOME
Firstly, let’s stick to the part of the network that delivers the service to residential
customers, not the intercity network or metro networks that take services around towns
and cities (like a ring road). The ultimate connection to the customer is known as the
“last mile” or access network, and this is what is being discussed here in terms of open
access.

THE OPEN ACCESS CONCEPT
The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) says that there
is no agreed definition, and that just confuses things enormously.
The basic concept is clear, though. An access network is open to be used by all service
providers on equal terms. This implies a real choice for the end customer, which makes
the network more attractive. For a fibre owner, increased take-up is THE number one
value driver. So open access is much better for the real estate fibre owner and is more
popular with end customers.
As is often the case, the devil is in the detail.

WHAT OPEN ACCESS SHOULD BE
In a fibre access network, open access should mean the ability for an end customer
to receive and choose from multiple types of services delivered by multiple different
operators simultaneously. The customer should be able to buy broadband from one
company and TV from another, as they wish.
Changing service providers should be easy, at the click of a mouse.
For service providers, the ability to add their services to the network should be completely
open and on equal terms for all operators – no advantages for one, no blocking of
another. In some cases, a volume discount may be justified, but the essence is to have
an open market on the network, which makes that network much more attractive to the
customer and better for you, the real estate owner.