Existing telecoms network infrastructures (and their associated services and business models) are now moving to next-generation architectures offering multiple converged services (such as IPTV, video, audio, voice, data and mobility) based on very-high-speed IP access supported by increasingly fibred networks. This move represents simultaneously a major investment and a major change for the telecoms industry of magnitudes unparalleled in the relatively brief history of competitive telecoms service provision.

Current telecoms regulation has been designed largely to introduce competition into an existing and relatively stable industry environment, not to oversee and encourage the construction of an entirely different network and service environment. The next five to ten years or more will present regulators and the industry with some difficult and fundamental issues, and some regulatory decisions will have a correspondingly difficult and fundamental effect on some players and their business models. Players of all types should therefore be very concerned over the increased potential of regulators to adversely affect their businesses.

Regulatory Headaches in the Transition to Next-Generation Networks identifies some of the key issues and potential regulatory developments that next-generation architectures could foster, such as:

- the three broad problem areas
- the different issues raised by next-generation networks (NGNs) and next-generation access networks (NGAs)
- the impact on legacy services and networks
- the fundamental difficulties with competition in next-generation access
- how fully converged services and networks undermine current regulatory categories
- the rising importance of socio-economic concerns
- the changing role of competition in NGNs.

Who should read this report

- Incumbent telecoms operators: understand some of the key issues and potential regulatory developments associated with the implementation of NGNs.
- Mobile operators: understand how potential changes in the regulation of fixed networks could affect their own businesses.
- Other licensed operators: understand potential major changes in the regulatory and competitive environment.
- Investors and analysts: understand why telecoms faces a period of potential regulatory change and risk.
- Regulators: consider how regulatory assumptions may need to be revisited for the NGN environment.

About the authors

Tim Hills (Analysys Associate) is a freelance telecoms writer and journalist, and has undertaken technical writing for a number of players in the telecoms industry. He has held various editorial positions with International Thomson Publishing, has contributed extensively to the Web-based Light Reading, and was an Associate and Senior Analyst for Analysys Research for some years. His publications for Analysys include Naked DSL: challenges and opportunities, The Telco Organisational Structure beyond 2010, Emerging Business Models in Voice: the impact of Skype and other private VoIP applications, Spectrum Trading and Liberalisation: new threats and opportunities for telecoms business models and Regulating the Telecoms Market: competition and innovation in the broadband economy.

Rupert Wood (Principal Analyst) directs fixed telecoms research at Analysys Research. Rupert specialises in wireline services, fixed-mobile competition and convergence in voice. He has produced research for Analysys in the areas of broadband access, services, pricing and regulation, fixed-mobile substitution and VoIP. He has also written reports taking a longer-range view of the structure of the telecoms industry. Rupert manages the Analysys Research Telecoms Market Matrix, directs the Analysys Research Fixed Networks and Services online market intelligence service and has a particular interest in the development of Eastern European/CIS telecoms markets. He is a regular contributor to the international press on a wide range of telecoms issues and has been quoted by The Times, The Economist, Business Week and Telecommunications Online. Before joining Analysys, Rupert was a Lecturer at the University of Cambridge.