The Stokab model for fiber deployment

Anders Comstedt, Ex-CEO of Stokab

The Fiber deployment in Stockholm made by Stokab begun with the liberalisation of the Swedish market. This opened up for a demand of cable from new operators entering the market in the first half of the 1990's

The City, realizing the need to take a pro-active position in this, started Stokab late 1993. During 1994 the company set a way to relate to all new entrants by leasing out fiber to everyone and trying to roll out synchronised with demand.

Building fiber networks is to a great extent a civil works activity. Most of the cost is digging up the streets to bury the ducts housing the cables. The cables themselves are a minor cost, irregardless if they have ten fibers or a hundred. Stokab could then be looked upon as a cost sharing mechanism between all operators in an area. Reality has proven it to be almost impossible to survive and develop a new stand alone cable plant as a new player with less than ten percent market share.

The presentation will expand on the roll-out, the governing mechanisms and Stokabs network of today.