We have published an updated version of our Wholesale Fixed Telecoms Market Review 2021-2026 consultation to correct certain points arising out of an error identified in our dark fibre cost model. We have also taken this opportunity to make a few other minor corrections and clarifications. We identify these changes below.
Dark fibre cost model
We identified errors in our dark fibre model relating to:
- 2025/26 unit costs (and service volumes) incorrectly linking to the CPI-X model;
- exclusion of some PIA related costs for 2017/18, i.e. the starting charges;
- exclusion of CLA costs when calculating the national average costs; and
- 7.3% WACC used instead of 7.1%.
Correcting these errors means that several of our proposed charges for dark fibre services have changed. These are set out in the table below.
| January 2020 consultation | Corrected figures | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting changes – single fibre variants | Access tail dark fibre | Inter-exchange dark fibre | Access tail dark fibre | Inter-exchange dark fibre | |
| Connection | £ per connection | 1,153 | 264 | 1,419 | 322 |
| Rental | £ per year | 615 | 18 | 701 | 20 |
| Main Link | £ per metre | n/a | 0.10 | n/a | 0.15 |
| Starting changes – dual fibre variants | Access tail dark fibre | Inter-exchange dark fibre | Access tail dark fibre | Inter-exchange dark fibre | |
| Connection | £ per connection | 2,306 | 528 | 2,838 | 644 |
| Rental | £ per year | 1,230 | 36 | 1,402 | 40 |
| Main Link | £ per metre | na | 0.20 | n/a | 0.30 |
| Xs – single and dual fibre variants | Access tail dark fibre | Inter-exchange dark fibre | Access tail dark fibre | Inter-exchange dark fibre | |
| Connection | Xs | CPI+1.1% | CPI-5.4% | CPI-2.5% | CPI-7.4% |
| Rental | Xs | CPI-5.4% | CPI-5.4% | CPI-7.0% | CPI-5.8% |
| Main Link | Xs | n/a | CPI+3.9% | n/a | CPI-4.2% |
We have also published an updated version of the dark fibre cost model.
We have corrected Annex 19 Table A19.1, Volume 4 Section 3 Table 3.1 and the draft SMP conditions (Volume 5 condition 12I) to reflect the above.
Other corrections and clarifications
Other corrections and clarifications are set out in the table below.
| Volume 3 | |
|---|---|
| Location | Correction/clarification |
| Section 2, Table 2.2 | Clarified that the charge control applying to SOGEA 40/10 is the Fair and reasonable terms and conditions (including charges) requirement. |
| Section 3, Paragraph 4.47 | Formatting issue corrected. “Conclusion” reformatted as sub-heading. |
| Volume 4 | |
| Location | Correction/clarification |
| Section 2, Paragraph 2.51 | Date corrected from “30 September” to “31 October”. Sentence now reads as “We propose to gather this network coverage information on the 31 October of each year, which will be five months before the start of each charge control year (running from 1 April to 31 March).” |
| Section 3, Table 3.1 | Leased lines access and inter exchange charge control cap corrected from CPI-5.4% to CPI-0%. |
| Section 5, Paragraph 5.57 | Date corrected from 2018/19 to 2019/20. Sentence now reads as “The charge we are proposing in the draft directions for the lead-in service is, as derived above, £9.25 for 2019/20.” |
| Annexes | |
| Location | Correction/clarification |
| Annex 18, Paragraph A18.44 | WACC corrected from 5.9% to 5.8%. |
| Annex 18, Paragraph A18.53 | Date corrected from “30 September” to “31 October”. Sentence now reads as “We propose to gather this network coverage information on the 31 October of each year, which will be five months before the start of each charge control year (running from 1 April to 31 March).” |
| Annex 19, Table A19.1 | Clarification to third and fourth column headings. Changed from “IEC” to “Main link for IEC and access circuits”. |
Where appropriate, we have made changes marked-up in Volume 5 to reflect these other corrections and clarifications. In addition, we have amended condition 12G to clarify our approach to the application of ECCs, including for dark fibre services. We have also taken this opportunity to address a few typographical errors in Volume 5. See SMP conditions 7, 8, 12A, 12B, 12C, 12D, 12E, 12F, 12G, 12H and Proposed Wholesale Local Access Market Directions.
In a separate document, we have published clarifications provided to stakeholders (PDF, 143.5 KB) since we published our consultation in January 2020.