(BRUSSELS) - The European Commission said Thursday it aimed to prevent dominant telecommunications companies from recreating monopolies in next generation fibre-optic networks.

Operators are ploughing billions of euros into building fibre optic networks to replace copper lines in order to offer new broadband Internet services like online gaming, high-definition television and interactive applications.

The European Union's executive arm wants national regulators to "mandate access to the ducts of the dominant operators allowing competitors to roll out their own fibre."

It also recommended that operators should be given access to a dominant company's fibres when ducts are not available or when population density is too low to otherwise make it profitable.

The commission's proposal also includes plans for calculating fees to be paid to a dominant operator as well as a risk premium.

"The deployment of new fibre-networks will shape the competitive conditions of the future," EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said in a statement.

"We need an appropriate framework to give European companies fair access to the new networks," she added.

According to the commission, there are 220 million copper lines in the EU currently and only slightly more than one million fibre optic lines.

As copper networks are replaced by fibre optic lines, 20 billion euros is forecast to be spent on investments, the commission said.

However, the European Telecommunications Network Operator association, an industry lobby, voiced concern about the plans to force them share fibre optic networks with rivals, which it warned would discourage investment.

"Considering that Europe is currently lagging behind other regions in fibre deployment and that investment effort is slowing down, the key focus of the recommendation should be on how to boost risky investment," said ETNO director Michael Bartholomew.

"In its current form it may risk delaying further the NGA deployment to the detriment of consumers," he added.

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