Bitstream access

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Bitstream access (Engl. Bitstream access ) is a wholesale service that telecommunications companies with its own infrastructure, which extends to the end customer, offer other telecommunications companies to allow them to offer Internet and telephone services to the end user as well. The data that is sent from and to the end customer is transferred to the purchasing company in the form of a data stream at network interfaces from the supplying company. Different bitstream variants are offered, which vary in how much of their own infrastructure the purchasing company has to set up and whether the end customer has a telephone connection from the offering company.

In particular, the historic network operators (in Germany Deutsche Telekom AG ) are legally obliged to offer bitstream access in Europe. This offer exists in addition to the classic unbundling , in which the inquiring companies rent physical lines. In addition, other companies with their own infrastructure also offer bitstream or bitstream-like products on a voluntary basis.

description

In order to get bitstream access to end customers, the purchasing company must connect appropriate transfer interfaces at the offering company in order to be able to transfer and accept the data sent by and to the end customer. The data can be transferred at different protocol levels: Transfer at IP level, at ATM level and also at Ethernet level is possible. In Germany, however, Deutsche Telekom has not yet offered an Ethernet handover.

The purchasing company can then forward the data received in this way to the Internet in order to offer the end customer Internet services, or lead them to a telephony platform in order to offer telephone services. Other services, such as IPTV, are also possible in this way.

The infrastructure on the other side of the transfer interface is operated entirely by the offering company. If the end customers are connected via DSL , this means, for example, that both the subscriber line , the DSLAM and the connection of the DSLAM to the transfer interface (the so-called concentration network ) are operated by the latter.

Bitstream access is to be distinguished from so-called resale offers. Here the decreasing company has absolutely no infrastructure of its own. The offering company connects the end customer directly to the Internet, but the end customer relationship lies with the purchasing company.

Different variants

The different bitstream access offers vary in how close the handover interface is to the end customer. For example, Deutsche Telekom offers to reduce data traffic regionally (in a total of 73 different regions) or to collect data traffic from all over Germany in one location. Because of the smaller concentration network required, the regional decrease is accordingly provided with a lower fee.

Another variation relates to whether a requirement for the availability of the bit stream is the existence of a telephone connection for the offering company. If this is the case, it is usually referred to as a shared connection. If this is not the case, this is referred to as a stand-alone bit stream.

Germany

For a long time, Germany held a special position in broadband regulation within the European Union because, contrary to the usual bitstream access, replacement wholesale products are only offered as an alternative by Deutsche Telekom (product bundle consisting of T-DSL resale connection and optionally T-DSL-ZISP , ISP-Gate or T-OC-DSL ) to offer bitstream services.

It was not until September 2006 that the Federal Network Agency issued an order that obliged Deutsche Telekom to offer a comprehensive range of bitstream access. The first activation of ADSL bitstream connections took place after procedural delays in mid-August 2008.

The IP bitstream regulatory order provided for an offer of access on both ADSL and ADSL2 + and SDSL basis and the transfer of traffic to the network of alternative providers at regional transfer interfaces in 73 regions. For several years now, Deutsche Telekom has been providing bitstream access for VDSL in addition to ADSL and SDSL. In order to standardize the access conditions and the establishment of bistro access, an NGA forum under the direction of the Federal Network Agency developed corresponding sample documents from 2010 to 2013.

In total, around two million bit stream accesses were already activated at Telekom in the third quarter of 2014. Of these, around 0.4 million were parallel to a Telekom telephone connection ( shared ) and 1.6 million were in the stand-alone variant .

In 2016, the access conditions and fees for access to the aforementioned Layer 2 bitstream network, in which bitstream is transported using Ethernet technology, were also set for the first time.

Switzerland

In accordance with the new version of the Swiss Telecommunications Act, Swisscom Fixnet was obliged to offer bitstream access from April 2007, but Swisscom has so far refused to do so, pointing out that it did not have a dominant position in the market. The largest competitor Sunrise Communications then filed a lawsuit and was confirmed by the Federal Communications Commission (ComCom) in November 2007. Swisscom brought an action against this ComCom decision before the Federal Administrative Court . This dismissed the lawsuit in February 2009. Swisscom has now announced that it is expected to offer full bitstream access for third-party providers from November 2009.

In November 2007, Swisscom decided to market the unbundled DSL access it had been offering to its own end customers since the end of August 2007 via resellers . However, this resale advance service does not meet the bitstream specifications of the possible individual provider-defined quality parameters.

Remarks

  1. ↑ NGA = engl. next generation access

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wholesale Internet Access Connectivity , at wholesale.telekom.de
  2. ↑ Federal Network Agency: IP bitstream access. September 2006, accessed April 22, 2017 .
  3. ↑ VATM: Deficits in the WITA bitstream order interface (PDF from December 22, 2009; 25 kB)
  4. ↑ Federal Network Agency would like to regulate bitstream access. Retrieved April 22, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Anatomy of the digital future - fiscal year 2013 , on telekom.com
  6. ↑ Federal Network Agency: Federal Network Agency finally puts access conditions and charges for Layer 2 bitstream into effect. Retrieved April 22, 2017 .
  7. ↑ PC tip from February 20, 2009: Swisscom accepts the latest decision and now wants to enable regulated bitstream access.
  8. ↑ NZZ of November 18, 2007: According to Swisscom boss Carsten Schloter, naked DSL is now available for resellers

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