Strategic Agenda 2010 - PTS-ER-2009:27
18/09/2009
In the strategic agenda, the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency (PTS) has made a comprehensive, overall assessment of major challenges within the areas of electronic communications and postal services.
PTS has identified two areas where there is a clear need to increase the number of initiatives made over the course of 2010, and where these initiatives are expected to have a major, positive impact.
Creating prerequisites for the rollout of IT infrastructure with high capacity
Sweden currently has basic IT infrastructure that works very well, to which virtually everyone has a connection or has basic prerequisites for connecting to infrastructure with broadband capacity. The political objective for the broadband sector states that infrastructure should in the first instance be provided through the agency of the market and that effective competition shall lead to a satisfactory range of services. In the time ahead, a major challenge for the broadband sector involves services demanding high capacity imposing greater demands on the networks. The rollout of fibre and continued development of wireless technologies, so that the capacity of mobile broadband networks increases, is crucial to infrastructure being able to meet future requirements and Sweden retaining its competitiveness in the future.
PTS can contribute to positive developments by laying the groundwork for effective investments in IT infrastructure with high capacity. This can be realised through work to promote competition, by means of spectrum management and through other measures.
Creating potential for improved competition in the broadband sector
Market developments demonstrate that there are still competition problems in the broadband sector. Certain problems are associated with access to metallic loops. The technological progress now taking place with migration from copper to fibre infrastructure may entail new access problems. At the same time, however, wireless broadband services are developing quickly, which under certain conditions, can help drive competition in the sector.
The market analyses being conducted in 2009 in the markets for network infrastructure access and broadband infrastructure access (bitstream access) are expected to lead to broader obligations than previously. For example, there are current questions concerning new types of access opportunities, which would represent new challenges for supervisory work. Here in particular, regulation should be mentioned, the aim of which is to give alternative operators access to dark fibre. Work related to a possible future decision about functional separation will also be carried out in 2010.