The penetration of the fiber optic network into an ever-increasing number of buildings in the country, together with the progress and development it entails, has also created a significant problem that is causing reasonable complaints from a large number of managers and apartment owners in apartment buildings in the country's major cities, a POMIDA announcement notes.
This concerns the phenomenon of the installation of multiple, parallel internal fiber optic networks by different telecommunications providers in buildings that already have central, modern and neutral passive infrastructure funded through the “Smart Readiness” program.
These initial central fiber optic network infrastructures, built with public and European funding, were designed precisely to serve all providers of electronic communications, without requiring new interventions in the common areas of the buildings for each new connection.
However, in practice, each provider that is different from the original one, without informing anyone, proceeds uncontrollably to create a new parallel central installation next to the existing one, installing new conduits, cables, central and terminal boxes at the entrance, in the corridors and on the floors of the apartment building. However, this practice creates serious problems in apartment buildings:
- It alters and degrades the aesthetics of the common areas,
- It burdens the jointly owned installations with unnecessary interventions,
- It causes constant disruption to owners and managers,
- It effectively nullifies the purpose for which public and European resources were allocated for the development of unified infrastructures.
The philosophy of the Smart Readiness program, as well as of the European regulatory framework for electronic communications, is the creation of common, neutral and accessible passive infrastructures, so that parallel installations and the pointless duplication of networks within the same buildings are avoided.
It is therefore extremely disappointing that it tends to become the rule in apartment buildings that already have a certified Smart Readiness installation, for a provider different from the original one to unabashedly attempt the construction of a second internal fiber optic infrastructure, a fact that raises reasonable questions as to the compatibility of this practice with the applicable national and European regulatory framework, as well as with the funding terms of the program itself.
POMIDA expresses its strong concern about this situation and asks the Ministry of Digital Governance and the EETT to issue without delay clear and binding instructions, by which:
- it will be confirmed that the existing Smart Readiness infrastructures constitute the building's common passive infrastructure, to which all providers must connect,
- the installation of second or third parallel internal networks will be prevented when available and functional infrastructure exists,
- the common areas of apartment buildings will be protected from unnecessary interventions that entail damage to their aesthetics and functionality,
- the proper utilization of the public and European resources invested in the digital modernization of buildings will be ensured.
Property owners cannot be turned into passive spectators of an uncontrolled “competition” between providers, which manifests itself through continuous technical interventions in the common areas of apartment buildings with the installation and opening of routes in the masonry, installation of conduits, cables, central and terminal panels, etc., and leads to the devaluation of infrastructures funded with taxpayers' money and that of the European Union.
The protection of private property, the preservation of the aesthetics and functionality of apartment buildings, as well as respect for the rules of proper utilization of public investments, require the immediate addressing of the issue before it expands further, the announcement concludes.