Line sharing
Line sharing , also known as line sharing , describes a process with which conventional landline network services ( analog connection / ISDN ) and ADSL- based data services from different providers can be offered via the same subscriber line (TAL).
Line sharing also unbundles the last mile of the telephone network for those competitors who only want to offer data services. With line sharing, an alternative provider is not provided with the entire connection line, as is the case with complete unbundling , but the line is divided into frequency bands. Line sharing is therefore also known as frequency unbundling.
technology
The subscriber line ends as a rule at the main distributor of the local exchanges operated by established network operators such as Deutsche Telekom AG (DTAG). Some alternative network operators such as Arcor or Versatel have their own local exchanges for voice services; other alternative network operators such as Telefónica or QSC have pure data networks with DSLAMs to connect end customers via DSL technology.
If a customer wants to switch to a provider with their own conventional local exchanges, the connection line can simply be reconnected so that it then leads to an exchange of the new provider. This reconnection is called “unbundling” of the local loop. However , if the customer wants to obtain voice services from the established provider, but broadband Internet access from an alternative provider, line sharing is one of the options for technical implementation. In this case, the alternative provider must provide the ADSL connections via its own DSLAM, which then terminates the customer's ADSL connection.
Since the investment and maintenance costs of the local loop are already priced into the basic fee for the telephone connection at the established operator, the line rental for the alternative providers for line sharing is reduced to the costs that the established provider also incurs through the establishment of frequency unbundling.
Since line sharing has been available in Germany in mid-2005 at terms that are regulated in line with the market, it has also been used increasingly (technically implemented in particular by Telefónica and marketed by 1 & 1 Internet AG , freenet.de and AOL ). Previously, all competitors who wanted to offer their own DSL connections as an alternative to Deutsche Telekom used almost exclusively the fully unbundled subscriber line, over which the traditional telephone service itself is also offered.
Providers who only offer broadband internet access and leave the classic voice telephony offering to the established operator also use the marketing of T-DSL resale connections instead of line sharing or in addition to line sharing . For the providers, this has the advantage that there is no need to invest in their own DSLAMs and collocation , which is not economical due to the high fixed costs and the low network density of the local loop network in sparsely populated areas.
Line sharing regulation in Germany
In Germany, the federal government and regulators have been skeptical of line sharing since the planned implementation by the EU , as they feared that Deutsche Telekom would be at a considerable competitive disadvantage compared to the existing unbundling of the entire subscriber line. The corresponding EU Line Sharing Regulation (EC) 2887/2000, which is directly national law, came into force on January 1, 2001.
The implementation by the national regulator turned out to be lengthy. At the end of March 2001, a regulatory order was issued with the stipulation to Deutsche Telekom to submit a line-sharing standard contract offer “within two months without discrimination”; In the following, however, the implementation of this obligation was only pushed slowly by the regulator, which is why the EU has repeatedly been forced to intervene in the regulatory procedure under threat of infringement proceedings against the Federal Republic.
A market-driven European-scale line-sharing contract offer without price margin squeeze was therefore only in April 2004 before, with the longer-term investment security for the consumer of line sharing is given only after the line sharing decision by the Federal Network Agency in August 2005 after In the spring of 2005, Telekom tried, contrary to its agreement with the EU Commission, to drastically increase the line sharing charges again. As a result of this long-term investment security, Telefónica finally began to inquire about the advance payment on a larger scale. In 2007, Telefonica says it will be able to offer line-sharing based DSL connections with a population coverage of around 60% in Germany.
See also
literature
- Remco van der Velden: Competition and cooperation on the German DSL market. Economics, Technology and Regulation. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2007, ISBN 3-16-149117-3 .