NGA Forum agrees specifications for broadband access product
Kurth: "Breakthrough achieved in cooperation on new optical fibre networks usage"
Date of issue 2011.10.13
At its last meeting, the NGA Forum, which consists of experts from the telecommunications sector and is headed and moderated by the President of the Bundesnetzagentur, made key progress in the use of new optical fibre networks.
"We now have a very detailed concept for how network operators and service providers can use newly-established fibre networks with other operators and be granted access to outside networks. The concept was developed by a working group of representatives from regional and national telecommunications companies. A new path has been forged by taking a voluntary cooperation approach, and we are now in the fortunate position of seeing this bear fruit", said Matthias Kurth, Bundesnetzagentur President.
"A significant foundation has now been created, which provides every investor in new networks with a guideline for the technical standards for expansion and thus increases planning security for future investments. While this agreement is not legally binding in a stricter sense, it will promote the cooperation in the interests of the parties involved. The consensus reached will make it possible for services to be provided that are not specific to the particular network, as it enables coordination of technical interfaces and operative processes. I hope to see the specifications developed into a model contract for cooperation agreements and adjusted to meet particular requirements. In the Internet era, the individual networks will be all the more valuable, the greater the degree of interconnection between them and the greater the number of options provided to end users", Kurth declared.
"This step will see the considerable investments necessary for high-bit-rate provision throughout Germany shared by many. This can only be achieved through the efforts of a number of companies - including SMEs", stressed Kurth.
The NGA Forum already published a policy document in May 2011 which dealt with technical and operational aspects of access to fibre and other NGA networks.
The specifications for a broadband access product that the Forum has now agreed on are for so-called Level-2 bitstream access. The specifications define the technical and operational interfaces, along with the key business processes necessary for interoperation.
The specifications are neutral in terms of access architectures and technologies. They set out the basic structures, models, protocols, parameters etc for interoperation. Moreover, they aim to offer NGA operators and providers of end customer NGA products with descriptions of the processes needed for cooperation in wholesale products that are uniform and as simple as possible. Particular attention is paid to a uniform model for switching provider, in order to allow the end customer to change with as little interruption as possible, through reliable coordination of all the parties involved. The specifications consist of a framework document and several individual documents.
The specifications and policy document can be found at www.bundesnetzagentur.de.