3.5.1. The IT policy objective
The objective of the IT policy is that "Sweden must be a sustainable information society for all. This implies an accessible information society with a modern infrastructure and IT services of public benefit, so as to simplify everyday life and give women and men, young people and old in every part of the country a better quality of life".
Central government is responsible for ensuring that this objective is fulfilled by fostering conditions that encourage the fulfilment of the objective. The most crucial factor for achieving the IT policy objective is access to the necessary infrastructure. Once a functioning infrastructure market is in place, central government should take a step back and allow general market conditions to prevail. Otherwise, central government must provide 'help'.
One way of doing this is through actively supporting the rollout of infrastructure, as previously realised through broadband support and the municipal set up of municipal networks. Another way is to ensure that competition within infrastructure works effectively, as this benefits the setting up of new infrastructure if this is economically viable as well as an efficient use of the existing infrastructure.
When it comes to support for the rollout of infrastructure, the most well-known problem was that consumers and businesses in rural areas and small communities did not have access to broadband. Central government has also taken measures to attempt to resolve this problem. However, in the assessment of PTS, the issue of access and setting up infrastructure is clearly more wide-ranging than this and is not only limited to rural areas and small communities.
Many operators and providers of electronic communications services are developing the next generation of communications services, which imposes higher demands on the infrastructure that is to carry these services. It is very likely that fixed networks will carry those services that demand the highest capacity in the foreseeable future and that optical fibre is currently the technology that enables operators to meet the needs of the market in terms of services that demand higher capacity and to upgrade their electronic
3.5.2. The regulation promoting competition
As described previously, several of the markets for electronic communications are encumbered by certain in-built structural problems that impede effective competition. For this reason, they have long been subject to certain regulation intended to promote competition. This has been the case in certain Swedish markets ever since the
introduction of the Telecommunications Act (1993:597).
Dark fibre was also regulated previously and special licence conditions were laid down for those stakeholders that provided what is known as 'network capacity', which included both line capacity as well as dark fibre. This was because the rollout of fibre began relatively early in Sweden compared with other countries, and there was both a supply of and demand for the dark fibre service. At that time, only a few stakeholders owned fibre in Sweden and in practice only TeliaSonera and Stokab were covered by such regulation and, if the capacity was available, they were to provide dark fibre.
When the Electronic Communications Act (LEK) entered into force in 2003, this also meant that the special regulation for dark fibre disappeared as the raw network capacity was not expressly perceived to be part of any of the relevant markets. The fact that the regulation of dark fibre had ceased had no major impact on the market initially, since TeliaSonera continued to provide dark fibre as before. However, in 2006, TeliaSonera began to make certain changes to its fibre sales (see Section 3.6.2), which limited the potential for other operators to lease dark fibre from the company. The combination of growing demand and the difficulties in meeting this demand and TeliaSonera's changed strategy meant that it was more difficult for the other operators to gain access to the necessary infrastructure.
It should be noted in this context that regulation in the LLU market, which may be of significance to dark fibre, has existed since 2004. Fibre is not actually included as part of the product market. However, since the connection between collocated equipment and the network of the purchasing operator in the form of dark fibre is often a prerequisite for other operators being able to purchase LLU, PTS considers that TeliaSonera still has an obligation to provide dark fibre on special conditions in these cases. Consequently, in July 2007, PTS ordered TeliaSonera to provide backhaul in this way in the form of dark fibre. TeliaSonera appealed against PTS's decision and on 29 February 2008 the county administrative court revoked the order issued by PTS. However, PTS has appealed against the judgment of the county administrative court to the administrative court of appeal, but the administrative court of appeal has not yet issued a decision on whether leave to appeal should be granted.
There is also other regulation that pertains to optical fibre and which may consequently have an impact on dark fibre. For example, the obligations in the bitstream market also include fibre-based LAN, and leased lines, which are regulated as regards terminating segments, can also be produced using dark fibre.
Here, it should also be pointed out that the Commission issued a new Recommendation on relevant markets in December 2007. This Recommendation included a crucial difference regarding the 'market for local loop unbundling'. This had previously been defined as "wholesale unbundled access (including shared access) to metallic loops and sub loops for the purpose of providing broadband and voice services". Instead, the new Recommendation describes the market as "wholesale (physical) network infrastructure access (including shared or fully unbundled access) at a fixed location". This new wording
opens up the possibility that the market for local loop unbundling may also encompass access via an infrastructure other than the metallic infrastructure. PTS recently
commenced an analysis of the market for local loop unbundling and the result of this is not yet ready. The outcome of this analysis could nevertheless have an impact on access to fibre-based access networks. PTS is also analysing the markets for wholesale
broadband access (Market 5) and for wholesale terminating segments of leased lines (Market 6). These may also be of significance to matters relating to access to fibre-based services.
In certain cases, electronic communications networks are partially financed through various forms of grant. These are usually issued in conjunction with a requirement on openness; that is, that the network owner should grant other parties access to the
network. However, it goes without saying that this does not mean that an operator has to sell dark fibre in order to comply with this requirement. In its report entitled 'Proposed Broadband Strategy for Sweden' (PTS-ER-2007:7), PTS stated that, from a competition perspective, it is desirable for fibre networks to be open at an infrastructural level, as this creates the best possible preconditions for service-based competition in those cases where the rollout of parallel infrastructure is impossible.
In this context, it should be noted that the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR) has drawn up principles to govern municipal broadband operations.13
The aim of these principles is to support the development of active ownership control in terms of local broadband networks owned by municipal authorities. This principal document is not a binding regulation; instead, the intention is to offer advice and support to municipal leaders when there is an apparent need to discuss these issues. For example, these principles give prominence to the fact that the presence of a local broadband network, which is available on equivalent and predictable terms, may contribute to lowering the establishment threshold for those parties that do not own networks themselves. It is also stated that effective competition in its turn is a prerequisite for lower prices and better products, which in their turn contribute to the development of government-owned and private enterprises. These guidelines thus communicate a positive attitude towards, as far as possible, providing different operators with access to existing infrastructure on equal terms.