ARCEP submits its draft decisions and recommendations to the Competition authority for opinion

Paris, 28 July 2009

From 22 June to 22 July, ARCEP submitted to public consultation draft decisions and recommendations concerning the methods for deploying and providing access to ultra-fast optical fibre electronic communications lines.

Following the responses to the public consultation, combined with the work and additional talks carried out during this same period, the Authority prepared a version of the drafts that take greater account of the comments made by market players. Today, these draft documents were made public and submitted to the competition authority for opinion.

Factoring in the opinion it receives, the Authority will then notify the draft decisions and recommendations to the European Commission and to the competent authorities in each of the other Member States then, following the adoption of this decision, will submit it for approval to the Minister responsible for electronic communications, prior to its publication and entry into application.

Based on the decision and the recommendation, each operator will publish an access offer aimed at other operators before the end of the year which enables the swift deployment of optical fibre, notably in very densely populated areas.