Convergence And NGN – What It Really Means For Regulators And Operators
Workshop Timings: Registration and coffee will be at 8:00. The workshops will run from 8:30 to 14:30 with two breaks for coffee and refreshments at appropriate intervals. Lunch will be served at the close of the workshops.
This workshop is designed to provide a sound understanding of the features that a convergent environment built around NGN is likely to prevail. The workshop will provide an assessment of the key issues and identification of the likely winners and losers with the operator circle, as well as regulators who will need to reassess traditional approaches in the face of a new challenging force.
The workshop will start by outlining the structure of the next generation network, highlighting the fundamental differences from the traditional telephone network.
Next generation networks represent tremendous opportunities for both businesses and users, but they also entail risks and require significant investment. All players face uncertainty over the optimal pace of transition to NGN, over the future inter-working arrangements of networks (both PSTN-NGN and NGN-NGN) and, most importantly, over the demand for ‘next generation services’ by consumers. In this context there are going to be likely winners and losers from the convergence and NGN environment moving forward. The workshop will attempt to highlight the key strategic positions of industry players, the implications for industry structure and value chains.
It will then move on to explore the implications for a regulator, notably:
In networks and services, where an NGN has potential for more geographic independence, since a server can be located anywhere in the global IP network. This contrasts with a traditional SS7 network where only interconnected operators can have access. Hence physical presence can no longer be used to determine where a service is “located” in terms of networks and geography. This implies that it may be difficult to determine the country in which a service originates and thus to identify the applicable national law.
In application provision where, with an NGN, it is likely that there will be an application interface; an API and set of network services for a 3rd party developer to use. The responsibilities and obligations of these 3rd party developers are yet to be established but the way in which they are regulated is likely to have significant impact on the development of the converged services market.
In resource utilisation, as with traditional, connection oriented networks, there is a signalling phase which takes place before the communication starts in order to trigger preparatory actions at the receiver end as well as along the transmission path. In contrast the basic transport mechanism in an NGN, IP, operates in a connectionless manner meaning that packets are sent out and received without any prior warning or preparations. Connectionless communication was designed for network browsing and distributed service creation, a different service paradigm from the PSTN. The clear regulatory implication is that connectionless communications do not have clearly defined start and end time, nor do they follow specific routes ….. so time based tariffs become unsuitable and cost models based on resource/route information have to be re-examined
In Interconnect there is the thorny issue of arriving at fair interconnect prices will need to be reviewed in the light of a completely new operator cost base. The traditional principles of LRIC and FAC may still apply but their application will need to be revised (e.g. an entirely new network suggests scorched earth instead of scorched node), the cost base will be different and some aspects of interconnect pricing (e.g. determining route factors) requires re-interpretation when a non-deterministic network is being analysed.
In addition to these issues, there is an open question over which services in a converged market should be regulated and which should be left to market players. Voice is clearly in the first category but other services may or may not require regulation.
Hence, the overall aim of the workshop is to provide you with a road map for the way ahead. This is intended to allow the precise route taken and speed of journey to vary from one place to another but to ensure that future regulatory policy is founded of sound understanding and principles.
About Your Expert Workshop Leaders
Bharat Vagadia, Middle East Regional Director
Intercai Mondiale, Bahrain And UAE
Bharat has over 10 years’ international experience in the ICT industry. His experience includes strategy definition and development, strategic marketing, business and financial modelling, forecasting / analysis, business development and research and development. He has worked for clients in the UK, Western and Eastern Europe, Kenya, Bahrain, Jordan, KSA, Egypt, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and the UAE. Bharat has a Masters in Commercial Law (LLM), an MBA from Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London, a 1st class (Hons) degree in Electronic / Electrical Engineering from King's College London, a CIM Diploma in Marketing and is a full member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and the Association of MBAs.
Mark Norris, Principal Consultant
Intercai Mondiale Ltd, UK
With 25 years experience in the Telecommunications and IT industry, Mark is an acknowledged expert on fixed networks and a specialist in the design and management of networks and the services they support. As part of the Intercai team in Bahrain, Mark has wide exposure to regulatory issues at all levels combined with first hand experience of practical regulation. In particular he was the Director of Market Operations for the newly formed regulator in Bahrain and was responsible for the National number plan implementation, the introduction of quality of service measurement and many other aspects of technical regulation, such the introduction of interconnection guidelines, carrier pre-selection and the rules for voice over IP. He was responsible for the evaluation of license bids for the regulatory commission in Saudi Arabia, has contributed the universal service and IP based voice communication regulations in Jordan and is currently a designated ‘thought partner’ to the UK regulator Ofcom.