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Network sharing lets a retail provider offer fiber broadband over access infrastructure built or operated by someone else. For telecom channel partners, that shifts the opportunity away from financing a last-mile build and toward assembling competitive services, acquiring customers and delivering support. The distinction matters: wholesale FTTH, open access, co-investment, shared PON infrastructure and wavelength access are related models, but they do not give a provider the same control or carry the same costs.
What network sharing changes for the channel
In a conventional build-and-retail model, one operator finances and operates the access network and sells service over it. Shared access can separate those roles: an infrastructure operator provides some or all of the fiber platform, while one or more retail providers compete for customers using it.
That separation can give an ISP, utility, mobile operator or other customer-facing business a route into broadband without constructing a parallel fiber network. The retail provider may bring its brand, customer relationships, service design and support. The network owner may gain additional wholesale customers and use of its infrastructure. These are potential benefits, not guaranteed savings or profitable outcomes; wholesale charges, operating responsibilities and customer-acquisition costs still matter.
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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallThe strategic framing of Fixed Access Network Sharing (FANS) describes multiple retail and wholesale operators sharing physical access fiber while retail operators retain control over service logic, traffic management, quality of service and customer experience. That is a useful description of one proposed model, not proof that all shared networks offer those controls or that the model is widely deployed.
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How the main sharing models differ
“Sharing” can refer to arrangements at different layers of the network. The key practical question is what the retailer receives and what it must still provide.
| Model | What is shared or supplied | Retail provider’s role |
|---|---|---|
| Wholesale FTTP access | An existing operator supplies access to its fiber network under defined wholesale terms. | Offers service over the wholesale connection; its transport and interconnection responsibilities depend on the product. |
| Open access | A shared infrastructure is made accessible to multiple service providers. | Competes for customers without necessarily making the same upfront access-network investment as a builder. |
| Co-investment | Operators jointly fund or arrange access to infrastructure, with specific rights set by the arrangement. | Participates in investment or access terms that vary by scheme; the label alone does not specify retail control. |
| PON wavelength sharing | Multiple wavelengths share the same passive optical network fiber. | May receive a wavelength or use a wholesale wavelength product; equipment and operating obligations depend on the arrangement. |
| FANS framing | Physical access fiber is shared, with the concept describing isolated, virtualized operator slices. | Is intended to retain service-layer controls, but actual capabilities must be confirmed in the specific platform and contract. |
The European FTTH Council’s Open Access Committee describes shared infrastructure as a way to reduce duplicate infrastructure and let service providers reach customers without the same upfront access-network investment. Those are possible advantages of the model, not a promise that every open-access market avoids duplication or offers attractive terms.
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Wholesale access can be more or less hands-on
Canada’s CRTC distinguishes aggregated from disaggregated wholesale access. With aggregated access, a competitor can interconnect at a centralized point and use the incumbent’s transport and access infrastructure. With disaggregated access, the competitor interconnects at more points and supplies its own transport over the incumbent’s access network. More control can therefore come with greater transport and interconnection requirements.
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Wavelength sharing is not the same as bitstream access
BEREC’s 2017 report describes NG-PON2 as carrying several wavelengths in each direction over the same PON fiber. Its examples include co-investment with separate wavelengths, regulated wavelength unbundling and commercial wholesale wavelength access. That report is a descriptive analysis, not a recommendation or a claim that wavelength access is the prevailing commercial model.
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What the market evidence shows—and does not show
Examples from France, the European region and Morocco show that shared access can coexist with provider choice and formal wholesale arrangements. Their different geographies and regulatory structures make them examples, not a universal forecast.
- France: Arcep reported in 2025 that 92% of fiber-passed premises had a choice of at least four operators in 2024, up from 83% in 2023. It attributed the availability of multiple operators to co-investment schemes providing network access on equitable terms. This measures provider choice in France; it does not isolate the causal effect of every sharing arrangement. Arcep also reported 24.4 million FTTH subscriptions at the end of 2024, equal to 75% of total internet subscriptions at year-end. Arcep’s official site.
- EU39: The FTTH Council Europe’s 2026 Observatory reported 295 million homes passed and 79% coverage as of September 2025, 23 million more homes than in September 2024. It estimated around 160 million subscribers and a 54% take-up rate across EU39 at that date. The report also counted about 85 million unsubscribed homes passed in EU27+UK; that is a different geographic scope from EU39. The Council describes rollout as maturing, with more complex remaining deployments and greater focus on take-up and monetization. FTTH Council Europe.
- Morocco: On 18 April 2025, regulator ANRT approved active FTTH wholesale catalogs for three operators. The catalogs set technical, operational, contractual and pricing terms between infrastructure operators and commercial operators. ANRT said passive FTTH sharing catalogs would be a next step at the time of its announcement. ANRT.
These cases do not establish that every provider will enter, that every wholesale offer is commercially attractive or that more retail competition automatically lowers prices. Canada’s framework makes the same practical caution explicit: wholesale access is intended to enable competition at cost-based rates that support network cost recovery, but the CRTC says the framework does not guarantee an individual competitor can compete profitably without risk.
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What a channel entrant needs to evaluate
A wholesale footprint is only a starting point. Before launching, a retailer needs to understand where its responsibilities begin, what the contract permits and whether it can serve customers profitably.
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- Retail control: Confirm who provides transport and access equipment, and who controls service logic, customer support, traffic management and quality-of-service settings.
- Access terms: Review eligibility, pricing, service levels, interconnection locations and whether rates are interim or final where relevant. A low headline wholesale price is not a complete cost model.
- Investment and risk: Identify who funds construction, operation, upgrades and maintenance. Then account for the retailer’s own platform, support, marketing and customer-acquisition costs.
- Local market conditions: Check the applicable rules, incumbent structure, co-investment arrangements, network coverage and actual provider choice. The France, Canada and Morocco examples cannot be generalized to another market without checking its arrangements.
The CRTC’s 2024-180 policy states: “Wholesale rates will be set to ensure that network operators recover their costs while giving competitors space to compete.” That balance is central to the business case: access must support the network owner’s investment while leaving room for a retailer to compete.
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Technical and operating requirements behind multi-tenant service
The FANS proposal identifies operational support systems (OSS), software-defined networking (SDN)-based management and control, a virtualized broadband network gateway (BNG), and multi-tenant-capable optical line terminals (OLTs) as components for operating multiple tenants at scale. These are elements of that proposal, not independently established proof of widespread deployment or commercial readiness of the full stack.
BEREC’s NG-PON2 discussion provides a concrete example of sharing at the optical layer: several wavelengths can run in each direction over the same PON fiber. A retailer evaluating such an arrangement still needs to confirm the actual handoff, equipment responsibilities, service-level commitments and division of operational work in its offer. A technical ability to share fiber does not, by itself, define a workable retail product.
Why the channel opportunity is at the service layer
When infrastructure access is available, the differentiator shifts toward what the retailer can do around the connection: reach a customer segment, bundle broadband with an existing proposition, design support around a known customer base or compete on service. This is an opportunity to test a retail role with less exposure to access-network construction—not a way to remove all infrastructure dependence or wholesale risk.
In an opinion article, David Keane-Mirajkar, regional vice president of solutions and architectures at Aurora Networks, a Vistance Networks business, argued that treating fiber as a shared, service-ready platform could help operators grow with less capital and compete on service rather than infrastructure. That is a vendor-affiliated strategic view. The market examples above show that sharing arrangements exist, but whether a particular channel partner can achieve those outcomes depends on its market, wholesale terms and execution.
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