[Update] The research has been extended to all the countries covered by our Telecom Europe service. 

Many European countries now have one or more wholesale-only operators, providing access to their (mainly) fibre networks, while not offering retail services themselves.

Since they do not have their own retail operations, wholesale-only operators are less likely to discriminate against access seekers as they have a strong incentive to provide wholesale access to all in order to maximise the use of their networks. Accordingly, the EECC limits any SMP remedies that can be applied to such operators.

Operators pursuing wholesale-only models are often not traditional telecommunications operators but rather municipalities, public utilities and/or financial private investors.

Download the map that shows which European countries researched have one or more wholesale-only operators

Cullen International just published a new benchmark that summarises the main wholesale-only initiatives for fibre deployment in selected European countries, focussing specifically on:

• the name(s) of any wholesale-only operator(s) in the market;
• the description of the type of business model adopted and product(s) offered;
• the operational launch date;
• information on the key shareholders, e.g. municipalities, public utilities and/or financial investors;
• the geographical scope (national/regional) and the targeted areas (rural/urban/rural and urban); and
• the current and planned coverage in terms of premises passed or connected.

The research focuses on “pure” wholesale-only operators, therefore not including open access networks operators with their own retail customers or legally separated operators.

To access the full benchmark, please click on “Access the full content” - or on “Request Access”, in case you are not subscribed to our European Telecoms service.