"TACKLING THE BARRIERS OF NEXT GENERATION BROADBAND ACCESS"

As Broadband use expands and both Business and Consumers alike demand an ever more sophisticated service, issues of access and who will fund the necessary investment have become a burning platform issue for the public sector, the Telco industry and the wider business community. In Europe communities like Nuenan in the Netherlands are leading the way, as they seek to tackle digital exclusion and develop attractive models that promote cohesion and business investment opportunity. In the UK, the future of services is at a critical crossroads around demand capacity, regulated government initiatives and industry business model issues.

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Speakers Include:

Antony Walker (Moderator) Chief Executive, Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG)	David Campbell Director, Next Generation Access (NGA), BT Openreach	Chris Stening Managing Director Easynet Connect .

Key Themes Include:

• Evolution of Broadband Access and assessing current penetration strategies to deliver higher-speed, multimegabit broadband services.
• Establishing Broadband as a key future utility resource and identifying incumbent Telco and Operator strategies to secure market share.
• The impact of Digital Content delivery including HD as consumer demand increases the requirement for high quality, faster speed, increased bandwidth and wider broadband access.
• Addressing the “first and last mile issue” and whether there is profitability, replicability and business case for GPON and FTTx technology beyond copper.
• Investment opportunities that provide more viable and economic business models for Next Gen rollouts. Will open access generate an overly competitive market?
• Charting future innovation in new technologies like FMC, Femtocells, Picocells HSPA , including Wireless to complement Broadband current DSL mainstream access.
• Driving the expansion of broadband in tackling the digital divide. Is WiMAX the killer-app technology solution?
• The role of governments and EU institutions in providing the regulatory framework to secure the future of digital access and the economic implications.

These issues and challenges call for the coordination of both government, industry and thought leaders to address the technology and business case for the future of Next Generation Broadband Access.