Netherlands
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Netherlands |
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1.
Telecommunications deregulation
After the application term for two national infrastructure licenses was closed on September 9 1996, the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management in October awarded them to Telfort (NS Telecom and British Telecom) and Enertel (consortium of utilities). With an infrastructure license, licensees do not need to get KPN Telecom’s approval to add an extra line to their networks and third parties may be connected to networks previously limited to private business use. License holders have the obligation to provide interconnection to other telecommunications service providers and have Open Network Provision obligations. At the end of March 1997 more than 1205 regional licenses had been awarded. The proprietary infrastructure (e.g. Cable TV or business networks) of potentially new telecommunications services competitors is often insufficient for providing competitive services. Interconnection of infrastructure is necessary to enable contact among customers across networks. A specific right to interconnect is therefore, along with digging rights, one of the most important aspects of an infrastructure licence. In practice, new providers will want to interconnect their networks to KPN Telecom network, which must be negotiated with KPN Telecom. The interconnection guideline that has been set by the European Union (March/April 1997) has been worked out in national guidelines. Some important items of the guidelines are:
1.3 New Telecommunications Act After a large number of amendments, in April 1998, the Telecommunications Act has been approved by the Lower House. The vote by the Higher House on the new law was planned for the end of September, after several earlier delays. The Higher House however had several significant second-thoughts. Amendments had to be made, especially with respect to privacy and tapping. The final decision came mid October. Implementation has been started mid November. Several amendments have been approved against the will of the minister of Transport, Public Works and Water Management. The Lower House has rejected the division of competencies between the OPTA and the Dutch Competition Authority (NMa) that has been proposed by the minister. The OPTA will stay independently authorised to decide about disputes in which also competition aspect play a role. However, the OPTA has to consult the NMa and both authorities have to make agreements about the mutual co-operation. The OPTA will be involved in the policy of the minister regarding frequencies. The OPTA has to be enabled by the ministry to advise on the size of the licenses that are going to be auctioned and on the limitations and conditions that are connected to the licenses. The Lower House also decided that the supervision of the cable sector will be moved from the NMa to the OPTA. An amendment that prohibits tariff differentiation till there is sufficient competition in the national telecommunications market, has been accepted. Furthermore, the Lower House decided that, in principle, the licenses for frequencies and the allocation of telephone numbers are transferable. In another amendment the Lower House laid down that speculation in telephone numbers is not allowed. The existing rules with respect to "site sharing" of networks for mobile telephony have been extended with the broadcasting networks. Companies are also allowed to enforce co-operation with respect to the construction of cable networks, like the sharing of cable gullies, against a reasonable compensation. At this moment, the following network organisations are already offering or are able to offer "Information Society" applications. 2.1 Energy/electricity utilities The energy/electricity utilities own the largest part of the total cable market, by means of their cable operator subsidiaries. The remaining part of the cable market is owned by local governments and housing agencies. The last two groups are very eager to sell their cable networks, particularly because of the increasing requirements (knowledge & skills) of new services. To be able to offer these new services large investments are needed; therefore, housing agencies will probably be better of by selling their cable interests. For some local governments, it will be more lucrative to wait a few years before selling their cable infrastructure, because it is expected that the value of the cable networks will rise. The energy/electricity utilities are very eager to acquire cable networks to extend their infrastructure. The energy utilities (with cable TV subsidiaries) Edon, Eneco, ENW, EZH, NUON, Mega Limburg, PNEM, REMU together with CASEMA (cable TV company) and Nortel (Canadian telecommunications company) formed of the Enertel consortium. The consortium planned to offer telecommunications services to large companies and interconnection to its members. On April 28th 1998, Enertel announced it would be acquired by WorldPort Holding, part of the American WorldPort Communications Inc. Cable company United Telekabel will acquire EnerTel’s residential customers. In the fourth quarter of 1998, WorldPort announced that energy companies Edon, Pnem/Mega and Delta each take a share of 5% in telecommunications company EnerTel. The energy companies together pay about ECU 13 million for the shares. In April 1997 the number of cable companies in the Netherlands was 125. Of these, 76 companies are members of the Vecai, the Dutch association of Cable TV Operators. The Vecai members account for 98% of all cable subscriptions. 95% of the households in Netherlands are connected to a cable network. This cable penetration is among the highest in the world. Originally the cable operators focused on cable television only. This was due to government regulations which prevented or curtailed applications beyond the relay of over-the-air radio and television programming. Recently the regulations were liberalised for the distribution of data-communications and telephony via the cable-network, making new applications of the network possible. The development of these new applications by the cable operators is not very co-ordinated. At this moment applications like Internet and pay-per-view television are available to a few small areas in the Netherlands. Telephony via the cable network is being tested in some areas. The cable operators think Internet services and video-on-demand are the most profitable applications. They are less sure about cable-telephony because of the keen competition from PTT Telecom and newcomers on the market. To be able to offer the new applications, the cable operators have to transform their cable infrastructure from a distribution configuration (one-way system) into a star-like structure ( which enables switching and the provision of two-way services). In some areas in the Netherlands this two-way communication is already possible. Most of the larger cable operators are upgrading their cable networks. In the year 1999 70% of the cable network will be suitable for two-way communication. In 2000 this will be 85%. For the new applications of the cable network, cable operators have to introduce a "set-top-box" and a gateway which enable billing and the collection of customer use and related data. The cable companies use different set-top-boxes at this moment. The Dutch government urges the cable operators to use one standard decoder. 2.3 Ether broadcasting network company: NOZEMA Point-to-multipoint terrestrial broadcasting is controlled by the Nederlandse Omroep Zender Maatschappij NV (NOZEMA), a limited liability company with shares owned by State and public radio and TV broadcasters. Besides providing broadcast distribution services to radio and TV broadcasters, NOZEMA is providing point-to-multipoint data downloading (data casting) to companies. NOZEMA is planning to offer Terrestrial Digital Audio Broadcasting (TDAB) and Terrestrial Digital Video Broadcasting (TDVB) as of 1997. In 1995 NOZEMA realised revenues of ECU 39.20 million (1995: 1 ECU = 2.10 Dfl.) with 144 employees. The company plans to play an important role on the future electronic highway. On the other hand, NOZEMA has agreed with PTT Telecom that it will dispose of its ether frequencies. The released frequencies will be used by companies offering mobile voice telephony services (DCS 1800). PTT Telecom in return will offer a digital broadcasting solution to NOZEMA. In the third quarter of 1998, Nozema started a test with digital television. The company strives to start building the first digital transmitters for the Randstad. 2.4 Joint-venture of railways company NS and British Telecom: Telfort In October 1996, the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management awarded a national license to Telfort, a joint-venture of railways company NS (Telecom) and British Telecom. The joint-venture is going to invest approximately one billion guilders to establish a fixed line telephony service for the Netherlands. The objective is to have a market share of 10 to 15% towards 2005. The joint venture already started to offer Dutch-based companies international connections through the Concert services (e.g. Concert Managed Data Services, Concert Virtual Network Services, Concert Application Services and Concert Internet Services) developed by British Telecom and its partnerMCI. Since 1989 BT is offering voice and data communications services to Dutch companies. Clients of British Telecom include Shell, Unilever, ABN Amro and Philips. In the first quarter of 1998, Telfort has been awarded a national DCS-1800/E-GSM (mobile telephony) license. Telfort plans to offer mobile telephony services as soon as possible, probably in November 1998.. In April 1998, Telfort announced it will establish a joint-venture,within the field of multimedia together with Twister. Under the name Maxe, interactive services will be offered. In the second quarter of 1998, Telfort introduced carrier select and discount numbers in the consumer market. The 30th of September Telfort started supplying mobile telecommunication, 7 months after it bought its licence via an auction. It starts with coverage only in the Randstad, but it plans to have national coverage before the end of 1999. During 1997, WorldCom has built three fibre optic rings in the Amsterdam region with a total length of 62 kilometres. Besides, WorldCom is working on a European fibre optic network. Some other large Dutch cities will be connected to this network during the next 1 to 2 years. WorldCom especially aims its services at the business sector. Up to now, WorldCom has invested around ECU 73 million in the Amsterdam network. In the second quarter of 1998 WorldCom announced that it will aim at the small and medium-size enterprises in the Netherlands via dealers by means of the so-called Agents & Associates Program. In June 1998, WorldCom announced it would build a Metropolitan Area Network in Rotterdam with a length of 40 kilometres. The Rotterdam Metropolitan Area Network was put into use in December 1998. In the third quarter of 1998, WorldCom announced that its pan-European fibre optic network is operational. The European network has a length of 3200 kilometres and it connects the city networks of WorldCom in London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris and Frankfurt. VersaTel Telecom is a private Dutch company. The NeSBIC Group (Fortis-Amev) has a share of 30% in VersaTel, the management of VersaTel owns 70% of the shares. VersaTel offers international telecommunications services using its "own" network which is connected to the networks of large telecommunications companies. The company is building a fibre optic network of 2200 kilometres in the Benelux, which costs about ECU 185 million. VersaTel will lay connections to at least 20 cities in Europe, among which Rotterdam, Breda, Heerlen, Venlo, Nijmegen, Arnhem, Zwolle, Amersfoort and Utrecht in the Netherlands. In the third quarter of 1998, Versatel was awarded a telecommunications infrastructure license in Belgium. Esprit is a European-based international telephony company. Esprit wants to have a network that connects 40 large European cities at the end of 1999. After that, it will expand to, for example, Eastern-Europe. In the third quarter of 1998, Esprit has finished its SDH Microwave technology ring, that connects the cities, Amsterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, Rotterdam, Alphen aan de Rijn and Gouda. The ring has a total length of 153 kilometres. In the third quarter of 1998, Esprit Telecom announced that it negotiated with mobile telephony license holders about co-operation. ***** During the last three months (October - December 1998), several developments have been observed:
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