Corrections and clarifications

Published: 28 February 2020

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 consultationCorrected figures
Starting changes – single fibre variantsAccess tail dark fibreInter-exchange dark fibreAccess tail dark fibreInter-exchange dark fibre
Connection£ per connection1,1532641,419322
Rental£ per year6151870120
Main Link£ per metren/a0.10n/a0.15
Starting changes – dual fibre variantsAccess tail dark fibreInter-exchange dark fibreAccess tail dark fibreInter-exchange dark fibre
Connection£ per connection2,3065282,838644
Rental£ per year1,230361,40240
Main Link£ per metrena0.20n/a0.30
Xs – single and dual fibre variantsAccess tail dark fibreInter-exchange dark fibreAccess tail dark fibreInter-exchange dark fibre
ConnectionXsCPI+1.1%CPI-5.4%CPI-2.5%CPI-7.4%
RentalXsCPI-5.4%CPI-5.4%CPI-7.0%CPI-5.8%
Main LinkXsn/aCPI+3.9%n/aCPI-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
LocationCorrection/clarification
Section 2, Table 2.2Clarified that the charge control applying to SOGEA 40/10 is the Fair and reasonable terms and conditions (including charges) requirement.
Section 3, Paragraph 4.47Formatting issue corrected. “Conclusion” reformatted as sub-heading.
Volume 4
LocationCorrection/clarification
Section 2, Paragraph 2.51Date 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 3.1Leased lines access and inter exchange charge control cap corrected from CPI-5.4% to CPI-0%.
Section 5, Paragraph 5.57Date 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
LocationCorrection/clarification
Annex 18, Paragraph A18.44WACC corrected from 5.9% to 5.8%.
Annex 18, Paragraph A18.53Date 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 A19.1Clarification 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.

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