Securing the Future with Next Generation Networks

(Business News & Technology News, 25 Sep 2008)

With national Next Generation Network (NGN) deployments proceeding rapidly, it is time for policy makers and regulators to consider carefully how to sustain and ensure fair, open and effective competition, according to analyst firm Ovum. C.W. Cheung, consulting director, comments, "NGNs will require regulators to shift their emphasis from promoting infrastructure based competition to enabling services based competition. The challenge to policy makers and regulators is not the design of the next generation regimes but the evolution and transition management."

Ovum's research on NGN cost modelling highlights the issues faced by regulators ensuring NGN service pricing is appropriately cost based according to established regulatory costing principles. NGN regulatory costing and service pricing remains an open issue still being explored by regulators and industry.

According to Ovum, government-facilitated approach to NGN deployment is gaining increased recognition as a means of ensuring policy, regulatory and commercial alignment in the national interest. "The layered separation approach adopted in Singapore is an example evolving to an NGN regulatory framework," says Senior Consultant Craig Skinner. The introduction of contractual constraints through the tendering process can give regulators new control mechanisms, however, it is likely that regulators will still need to employ costing, price or equivalence determination practices.

To address the relevant issues, Ovum will be conducting a two day intensive workshop, entitled "Securing the Future: National NGNs & Regulation" on November 25 to 26 in Singapore, where Ovum experts will examine Ovum's key findings in the area of commercial and regulatory developments for Next Generation Networks (NGNs).

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