WHERE IS NEXT GEN HAPPENING?
Roger Darlington, Member for England,
Communications Consumer Panel
NextGen Roadshow,
Nottingham,
24 March 2009
©Communications Consumer Panel

THE NATIONAL PICTURE
Something happening in every nation and every region
Scotland: 4
Wales: 2
N. Ireland: 3
England:
London: 3 East: 3
South-East: 4 North-West: 4
South-West: 4 Yorkshire: 2
Midlands: 7 North-East: 2
Total: almost 40 (and counting)
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THE LOCAL SCENE
• Nottingham - MW & NGA
• Derby - Lightspeed
• Corby - Independent Fibre Networks
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MANY BUSINESS MODELS
• Major players - e.g. BT at Ebbsfleet, Muswell Hill & Whitchurch
• Virgin Media at Warrington
• Smaller players - e.g. IFNL in Corby & Hampshire, H20 at
Bournemouth & Dundee
• Regional development authorities - e.g. Digital Region & NYnet in
Yorkshire, Advantage West Midlands at Longbridge
• Local authorities - e.g. Durham, Nottingham, Bristol, Walsall
• Private developers - e.g. Wembley, Salford Quays, Belfast's Titanic
Quarter
• Community groups - e.g. CBN projects at Alston Moor, West
Whitlawburn, Angus Glens
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WHY HAVE LOCAL NGA INITIATIVES?
1. It will enable the trialling of different technical options
3. It will enable the testing of different business models
5. It will act as a stimulus to other larger-scale private investments
7. It will over time help to demonstrate the scale and type of
consumer demand for faster broadband speeds and the services
that use such speeds
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BUT: DIGITAL BRITAIN INTERIM REPORT
“The Government is committed to working with community and local
groups to develop interoperability and best practice standards to unite
localised NGA projects.
Action 5: The Government will help implement the Community
Broadband Network’s proposals for an umbrella body to bring
together all the local and community networks and provide them with
technical and advisory support."
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FURTHER INFORMATION
Communications Consumer Panel NGA review:
http://www.communicationsconsumerpanel.org.uk/Local%20initiatives%20on
%20Next%20Generation%20Access%20in%20the%20UK.pdf
http://www.communicationsconsumerpanel.org.uk/smartweb/next-
generation-networks/next-generation-networks
Communications Consumer Panel web site and blog:
http://www.communicationsconsumerpanel.org.uk/
Roger Darlington:
rogerdarlington@dsl.pipex.com
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