Funding

In three MS the cost of broadband USO is currently funded through industry (Slovenia, Spain, and United Kingdom). A public funding mechanism is in place in three MS (Finland, Latvia, and Sweden). Belgium has not designed a USP and in Croatia no fund has yet been established. Broadband USO funding applications have not yet been received by MCA. Accordingly the funding mechanism has yet to be defined.

The funding mechanism to support the broadband USO has only been activated in Spain and Latvia. The Latvian USP has previously received public funds to finance the affordable universal service for disabled end-users.

In Spain service providers with a gross annual operating income of more than €100 million have to contribute to an industry fund. In Croatia providers who have a share of more than 2% of the retail market are obliged to make contributions to the fund. The reimbursement of the net costs may not be required by the USP if its share in the total revenue generated in the market of USO services is bigger than 70%. Since the incumbent’s share exceeds 70% such a fund has not yet been established

In Finland, the USP is compensated by state funds if the financial burden is found to be unfair. However, compensation has not been requested to date by the USP.

Work is currently underway in a number of other BEREC Working Groups which may be relevant to the delivery of the adequate broadband report on best practices:

- 1.9 Guidelines for geographical surveys of network deployments

- 4.3 BEREC Net Neutrality measurement tool

- 5.4 Guidelines detailing quality of service parameters

Figure 18 & 19 provide an overview of these work streams, deliverables and the linkages with the report on best practices. This BEREC work and associated outputs will need to be taken into consideration in the next iteration of this report in order to ensure a consistent approach to the definition and application of BEREC Guidelines and at BEREC level.

In accordance with Article 84(3), this report will be updated regularly in order to reflect technological advances and changes in consumer usage patterns.

Future reports may incorporate a wider range of topics following the transposition of Directive (EU) 2018/1972 and following the defining of adequate broadband IAS by MS. Future reports may therefore draw from and include a wider range of examples and practices.

Figure 19: Other BEREC WG work streams relevant to this report (continued)

The objective of this consultation, is to seek the views of stakeholders, including end-users, representative organisations and service providers on the draft BEREC report on MS best practices to support the defining of adequate broadband internet access service.[26] This consultation will enable BEREC to take into account stakeholders’ feedback in EU Directive 2018/1972 Article 84(3), and will inform the completion of the report before final approval and publication by BEREC in June 2020.

BEREC invites all stakeholders to submit their observations and contributions regarding the draft best practices report. The public consultation is open from 11 December 2019 to 15 January 2020.

Stakeholders are invited to submit their contributions via the BEREC online public consultation tool. The contributions can also be sent to the following e-mail address: PC_Adequate_BB_IAS@berec.europa.eu  by 17:00 CET 15 January 2020.

In accordance with the BEREC policy on public consultations, BEREC will publish a summary of all received contributions, respecting confidentiality requests. All contributions will be published on the BEREC website, taking into account requests for confidentiality and publication of personal data. Any such requests should clearly indicate which information is considered confidential.

Stakeholders, who request confidentiality of all or part of the documents submitted to a public consultation, shall indicate this upon submission of the materials. If there is no clear indication that all or part of the documents are confidential, BEREC will presume that the documents can be made available to the public.

Following the consultation period, BEREC will analyse and consider the responses received prior to issuing its final report on MS best practices to support the defining of the adequate broadband internet access service. Respondents are requested to provide all relevant information to ensure that responses can be fully analysed.

Consultation Question 1

Consultation Question 2

Consultation Question 3

Consultation Question 4

Consultation Question 5