In the current telecommunications domain, a clear trend towards vertical disintegration is observed, whereas multiple actors take up different roles in the value chain instead of one monopoly operator that is responsible for the full service delivery. Although this trend is observed in different...

In 2010, the European Commission has formulated some clear objectives to come to one single European telecommunications market by 2020 in its Digital Agenda. These objectives require large investments in new infrastructure. Optical access networks can cope with the high bandwidth required by...

Although the phenomenon of the internet only emerged about 25 years ago, it is hard to imagine life without it. More and more people use the available connectivity for both professional and private life, and the number of services grows continuously. This increasing demand for capacity and speed...

The Digital Agenda for Europe sets out clear goals for providing high speed broadband to all its residents, but leaves the implementation of this plan to the individual Member States. Because of large economic, cultural and political differences, the roads to realizing these ambitious goals are...

Although it is clear that the evolution of fixed access networks requires the installation of Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) to all households, the business case for deploying such networks is very uncertain. It requires significant upfront investment, while not being assured of sufficient timely...