Developer | General Secretariat for Telecommunications and Post |
Operator | General Secretariat for Telecommunications and Post |
Budget | € 200,000.00 excluding VAT |
What is the object of the project?
The object of the project is to conduct a strategy development study for the gradual decommissioning of the copper network (copper switch-off).
In this context, the following services will be provided:
- Recording of the situation and related policies in other European countries and analysis of potential alternatives for decommissioning of the copper network
- Services for organising and conducting consultations
- Services for the drafting of a cost-benefit study regarding the decommissioning of the copper network
- Services for setting the time targets for decommissioning and identifying alternatives of public intervention
- Services for the development of a Roadmap in order to proceed with the decommissioning of the copper network
Necessity of implementation
Greece is still lagging behind other EU Member States in terms of availability and penetration of very high capacity broadband networks. More specifically, based on the DESI index for the year 2021, the coverage of fixed, very high capacity networks (VHCN) is 10% against 59% of the European average, while the penetration of broadband services of 100 Mbps or higher is 3% against 34% of the European average. These performances rank Greece 27th among the Member States in terms of the Connectivity sub-index of the DESI index. Implemented and announced private and public investments are expected to significantly address the deficit in the availability of very high capacity networks and services covering almost the entire country, thus progressing the need for a national strategy for the decommissioning of the existing copper network, which will include a Roadmap specifying the spatial and temporal transition to very high capacity networks (VHCNs).
What is the aim of the project?
The issue of the transition of the access networks to the next generation of infrastructure (Next Generation Access Networks) has been very high on the agenda of the European Union, which has set ambitious goals for the availability and penetration of the relevant infrastructures in the coming years. The recent strategy (28) entitled ‘2030 Digital Compass: the European way for the Digital Decade’ which validates the existing strategy (29) entitled ‘Towards a European Gigabit Society’ since 2016, aims to cover all European households with VHCN infrastructure capable of delivering gigabit speeds, until 2030. This complete transition to VHCN infrastructure raises the issue of copper switch-off, which is still the main broadband access infrastructure, although it was not built for this purpose.