Bit-stream access
Bit Stream Access refers to the situation where the incumbent operator installs a high speed access link to the customers premises (e.g., by installing its ADSL equipment in its local access network) and then makes this access link available to third parties, to enable them to provide high speed services to customers. This type of access does not actually entail any third party access to the copper pair in the local loop.
The incumbent may also provide transmission services to its competitors, using its ATM or IP network, to carry competitors traffic from the DSLAM to a ‘higher’ level in the network hierarchy where new entrants may already have a point of presence (e.g. a transit switch location). Bit-stream handover points thus can be at various levels:
- Handover at DSLAM
- Handover at ATM-PoP
- Handover at IP level
Bit Stream Access is nowadays considered to be the key tool for opening competition in the broadband market. It enables competitors to offer their own products to consumers even if they do not operate the local loop (the last mile). Bit stream access allows the new entrant to use the high-speed modems and other equipment provided by the incumbent and thus not to invest into the local loop. This affects the economics of the service and places restrictions on the type of modems that the customer of the new entrant can buy or rent.
EU Regulation
The provision of Bit Stream services is not mandated under European Community law, but where an incumbent operator provides Bit Stream DSL services to its own services, subsidiary or third party, then, in accordance with Community law, it must also provide such forms of access under transparent and non-discriminatory terms or conditions to others (Directive 98/10/EC Article 16).
Bit Stream Access service allows the incumbent to retain control of the rate of deployment of high speed access services, and the geographical regions in which these service are rolled out. Such services should therefore be seen as complementing the other forms of unbundled access described above, but not substituting them.