Ovum shows the way ahead for NGN

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: Ovum announced that 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.

CW Cheung, consulting director, Ovum, said: "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 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.

Ovum research shows that the government facilitated approach to NGN deployment is gaining increased recognition as a means of ensuring policy, regulatory and commercial alignment in the national interest.

Craig Skinner, senior consultant, Ovum, said: "The layered separation approach adopted in Singapore is an example evolving to an NGN regulatory framework. 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 “Securing the Future: National NGNs & Regulation”, on 25-26 November in Singapore, where Ovum experts will examine Ovum's key findings in the area of commercial and regulatory developments for NGNs.