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What UK altnets can learn from Sweden’s reuse approach to fibre
By Rob Leenderts, CEO at AssetHUB
When it comes to fibre rollouts, the UK could benefit from looking to Sweden for inspiration on its successful approach to network assets. As one of the best fibre-connected nations in the world, the Scandinavian country’s success story is largely thanks to the introduction of a trusted wholesale marketplace for buying and selling fibre assets and infrastructure. Introduced more than decade ago, it has provided greater transparency for fibre buyers and more revenue opportunities for sellers.
The marketplace, CESAR2, is a software solution from trade association The Swedish Local Fibre Alliance (SSNF/Svenska Stadsnätsföreningen). It is used by more than 150 companies, has more than 1,500 users in Sweden, sees 10,000 enquiries placed each year, and has nearly half a billion Euros in active contracts in place across the platform. AssetHUB’s partner, Digpro, is the platform developer and has been contributing its technical platform, the Digpro Fiber Infrastructure eXchange to CESAR2 to increase the availability of telecoms products since 2014.
An alternative to the incumbent
Alongside government subsidies and deregulation of the telecoms market in 1990, easier transactions and improved supplier transparency have played a huge role in ensuring that fibre assets are utilised more effectively in Sweden. 99% of Swedish households and businesses now have access to 1Gb fibre connectivity.
With incentives offered to municipalities and private operators to build fibre networks, it resulted in approximately 200 municipality owned fibre networks across Sweden. A lot of these networks had extra capacity that was going to waste. However, for many operators that wanted to expand their market, the only option was to buy fibre from incumbent telecom provider Telia. Until CESAR2 came along to offer an alternative and allowed the industry to collaborate quickly and effectively.
Greater transparency, greater trust
CESAR2 not only presented an option to compete with the incumbent, but it also allowed Tier 2 operators to buy from the city networks. The first product to be traded in Sweden was dark fibre.
When the marketplace was launched, potential sellers could publish products in different postal codes and buyers could search these locations to find out what was available and where. In turn, the buyer could contact the seller from the very beginning, negotiate a quote and place an order.
In 2014, Digpro and The Swedish Local Fibre Alliance partnered to offer a new user interface, Geographic Information System (GIS), and an advanced search function. Buyers could also compare fibre assets from multiple sellers at any one time.
Fast forward to today and the current CESAR2 is the result of continuous development and refinement. This includes defined products (like ethernet and dark fibre), geo-locations of products, legal contracts (such as terms and conditions and SLAs), and improved order efficiency (from initial enquiry to order).
As a buyer, there is a single interface for a query and price proposal, even if the proposal involves many networks. As a seller, you are part of a nationwide sales area and can sell to the operators that you choose to do business with.
As the trust has grown in both the system and its inherent security, companies are comfortable publishing the precise locations of products and assets. CESAR2 helps buyers automatically make enquiries and purchases, not only in Sweden but in Germany too.
Bringing this strength to the UK market
A wholesale marketplace is beneficial to both buyers and sellers. Buyers have access to an efficient market, competitive prices, and can utilise what is already out there. Sellers, on the other hand, can make better use of their fibre assets and unlock new revenue streams. Both parties also enjoy easy administration, due to the standard processes and workflows, alongside standard or bespoke agreements and contracts.
Digpro develops and owns the technology behind CESAR2 and markets it internationally under the FIBE-X name. In the UK, we call this AssetHUB.
Based on this successful Swedish technology, AssetHUB provides standardised processes for seamless and secure trading of telecoms assets and infrastructure services. A one-stop-shop for ducts, fibre, ethernet, street furniture, buildings and land, AssetHUB delivers efficiencies in the use and management of existing assets, as well as reducing carbon emissions and fibre overbuild.
AssetHUB: A trusted and secure pair of hands
It is essential for altnets to make their publicly funded fibre deployments visible and available to comply with regulations, allow for infrastructure sharing and generate much-needed additional revenues. AssetHUB’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) Project Gigabit-compliant trading platform for purchasing and selling infrastructure and services helps network builders and owners map their fibre networks for visibility.
It also makes sure that only approved ISPs and other network builders can gain access to the network, securely and safely. With AssetHUB’s platform, network builders can decide what information they share and who with. For example, altnets have the option to share a rough location of existing fibre deployments, or the actual location of their deployment connection points.
As more network builders explore opportunities for consolidation, cost savings are crucial and fibre asset sharing is set to play an important role now and in the future. By following Sweden’s lead, the UK has a proven blueprint to base its own success on.
For more information, visit: https://www.asset-hub.co.uk/.