BSG submits response to Ofcom NGA consultation
The BSG has submitted its response to Ofcom’s consultation ‘Future broadband: Policy approach to next generation access’.
Our response notes that the regulatory environment is just one element of the debate that needs to be resolved to enable the UK to move towards NGA, but welcomes the consultation as a step forward in creating the right conditions for timely and efficient investment in NGA. Among the key points in the report are as follows.
- There is a need for greater regulatory certainty in order for investment decisions regarding NGA to be made.
- How Ofcom’s regulatory principles will be applied in practice needs to be explored, and scenarios for NGA deployment should be examined in this context.
- Further work is needed to identify at which level competition in an NGA world will be efficient, sustainable and valuable.
- On past experience it is reasonable to assume that market led deployment is likely to fall short of universal or near universal deployment. The BSG is working with stakeholders to identify models for efficient public sector intervention in cases of market failure.
