Unbundling ("Local access at a fixed location")
According to the Telecom Act 2003, an access obligation requires a prior determination by the regulatory authority in the course of a market analysis procedure that a company has significant market power on the relevant market and, among other, the imposition of an obligation to grant access to its electronic communications network.
On July 24, 2017, the Telekom-Control-Kommission again concluded in its decision M 1.5/15-115 that A1 Telekom Austria AG had significant market power on the wholesale market for local access at a fixed location (formerly "wholesale market for access to physical network infrastructures at a fixed location"). At the same time, specific obligation were imposed on A1 Telekom Austria AG such as access to unbundled local loops and to fibre lines on a PON basis, non-discrimination and publication of reference offers regarding physical and virtual local access, charge-control according to FL-LRAIC and simultaneously absence of a margin-squeeze in case of physical local access as well as charge-control according to ERT in case of virtual local access, separated accounts and publication of Key Performance Indicators.
After completion of earlier market analysis proceedings, Telekom Austria had been found to hold significant market power on the wholesale market for unbundled access; at the same time, specific obligation had been imposed on this operator (see Decisions M 1.1/12-106 of December 16, 2013 and M 3/09-103 of Sept. 6, 2010).
The content of the Reference Unbundling Offer ("RUO") largely corresponds to a series of dispute settlement decisions dated April 20, 2009 (see http://www.rtr.at/en/tk/ULL2009). The RUO was published on http://cdn1.a1.net/final/de/media/pdf/RUO-2017.pdf. In addition to a main section with general contractual provisions, the offer contains annexes with provisions on the use of transmission systems on unbundled local loops and sub-loops (Annex 2), ordering, provisioning and cancellation procedures for unbundled local loops and sub-loops (Annex 4), sub-loop unbundling (Annex 5), collocation (Annex 6 including an EtherLink Service for connecting collocation locations), fault repair and maintenance (Annex 7), rates and charges (Annex 8), network compatibility of transmission systems and NGA rollout (Annex 9), provisions regarding access to ducts (Anned 10) and dark fibre (Annex 11) as well as provisions on the availability of shared use (Annex 12).
A similar structure is used for the Reference Offer on virtual unbundling (published on http://cdn3.a1.net/final/de/media/pdf/Virtuelle_Entbuendelung.pdf). Basic elements for the strucure of this Reference Offer have been provided by a dispute settlement decision of the Telekom-Control-Kommission dated Dec. 17, 2012 (see https://www.rtr.at/en/tk/Z1_11_Z3_11). A main section with general contractual provisions is followed by several annexes. Annex 1 („Technical Manual“) gives an overview on network and service architecture, handover points, service class parameters, bandwidth profiles and DSLAM configuration. Processes with regard to ordering, provisioning and cancellation as well as availability requests, timeshifts, migration processes, contact points and forms are subject to Annex 2 ("Operation manual"). While Annex 3 covers charges and Annex 4 maintenance and fault repair, Annex 5 describes rules for the use of modems. A new Annex 5a offers an optional provision of subscriber modems by A1. For a list of potential locations for applying virtual unbundling, Annex 6 refers to the web front-end available for unbundling partners while Annex 7 gives instructions how to use the web interface. Several abbreviations and definitions can be found in Annex 8. Annex 9 contains provisions with regard to the Optical Network Termination ("ONT") in case of bei FTTH subscriber lines. Annexes 10 and 14 cover the prerequisites of a mandatory migration of existing services provided by wholesale partners in the course of an NGA buildout from an Access Remote Unit ("Access Remote Unit") - Annex 10 - or from the MDF ("Main Distribution Frame") - Annex 14. Annex 11 lists rules applicable in case of "port forwarding" of a virtual unbundling service from an MDF to an advance ARU.or from one ARU to another. Annex 12 covers ordering modalities for add-on services provided by A1 like modem installation or WiFi configuration. Annex 13 describes various switching processes between different vULL variants. Annex 15 concludes with port switching processes when switching loops with existing VE services from one DSLAM port to another.