Gemeinsame Pressemitteilung: Europäische Allianz lokaler Glasfaserausbauer setzt sich für zukunftssicheres EU-Glasfaser-Infrastrukturziel ein

The alternative operators represented in ELFA carry the lion’s share of the FttB/H rollout in their respective countries, i.e. Sweden, Denmark, Germany, UK, France and Austria. Hence, ELFA members and other competitors, are responsible for about half of the total invest into fixed-line telecommunication networks. Thus, they drive innovation and competition in the respective markets.

Another important topic of ELFA’s policy meeting was the potential of sustainable full fibre networks for tackling climate change. Full fibre networks can reduce carbon emissions caused by transportation and traffic by enabling teleworking opportunities, videoconferencing or telemedicine. This is in line with the new Commission President’s commitment to make all policy dimensions fit for the digital age.

ELFA members also proposed their ideas to accelerate full fibre deployment. Among the proposed solutions were policy measures which focus on the demand-side, in the form of a reduced value added tax for telecommunication services or the introduction of a voucher model, which aims at channelling funds to the demand of citizens and businesses. Furthermore, new solutions concerning the efficient use of the limited civil engineering capacities and skilled employees were introduced. Finally, the potentials of Open Access were addressed in terms of mutual wholesale/wholebuy agreements to raise network capacity use and to avoid parallel network deployment and overbuilding.