The U.K. Office of Communications (Ofcom) Thurs. began talks on w...

network capable of supporting higher bandwidths over DSL, a mature pay-TV market influencing IPTV services’ potential, less competition in end-to-end infrastructure provisions, a focus on core next-generation network upgrades and other U.K. characteristics, Ofcom said. Some players want higher speed access infrastructure to launch new services, while many commercial communications providers don’t see a strong enough case for investing in NGA infrastructure, Ofcom said. But it’s important to have a regulatory regime in mind to avoid hampering future investment, it said. Ofcom is looking mainly at wireline network deployment. NGA poses 2 key policy challenges, Ofcom said: (1) The need for preemptive regulation to balance promotion of competition and efforts to avoid distorting investment incentives. (2) NGA’s social benefits, which could include social inclusion and bridging the digital divide. Ofcom’s tack on market bottlenecks -- giving competitors equal network access -- likely will work with NGA investment as well, it said. Among issues on which it seeks feedback are the level in the network to apply regulation -- access to ducts, unbundling options and so forth -- and the level of and duration for support for legacy wholesale products as operators shift to NGA networks. The regulator also will look at how to ensure current wholesale products remain available for competitors, and a suitable route for existing infrastructure investments to new technologies as they appear. Ofcom will hold seminars early next year.