The last month has seen further progress, though less than we had planned.
During the life of NGNuk it has been difficult for a number of the members to provide the level of support to the NGNuk programme that is really needed except for a few regulars. I have recently written to all executive member CEOs asking them to review their commitment and re-affirm, where they can, their support for the programme. I have also reviewed the status of the initiative with Ed Richards, CEO Ofcom and he expressed the clear view that Ofcom remains absolutely committed to Industry shaping the future commercial environment for NGN Interconnect within the UK and expects the NGNuk Members to step up to delivering the Vision. There is some concern that industry appears to be continuing it's reliance on BT and a few others to determine the NGN Interconnect framework for the UK which will make the Industry wide agreement we all seek significantly harder to secure.
Following BTW's initial response to the thoughts of NGNuk on the numbers and location of voice interconnects there has been ongoing dialogue between the NGNuk work group and BTW. This reached something of an impasse as BTW felt that it was unable to provide the level of detail requested by NGNuk and the work group could not refine its position without further information on costs. BTW decided to seek wider input on the position outlined by NGNuk via their Consult 21 process. This is due to close at the end of June.
The draft of the public paper outlining NGNuk member views on the suitability of the charging models (CPP, RPP and B&K) has received a number of comments from members and the final draft is now in circulation.
Work on developing the Requirements Definition for services across NGN interconnects continues. There has been insufficient comment from members on the Interconnect Requirements so far and additional member feedback is still being solicited plus comments from non members. These requirements are important as they will provide the context for the overall NGNuk programme therefore the secretariat is proactively engaging a wider set of views.
Work continues with NICC to further refine the programme elements that NICC will deliver and draw a clear distinction from the Programme elements that NGNuk will deliver.
The overall work programme and its prioritisation has been agreed in principle with the Executive. Members of the Executive have offered to act as sponsors for the key programmes and to help ensure that the detail within these work streams understood. This work will allow NGNuk to understand the overall resource requirements and interdependencies of the programme.
Finally, today we published the minutes from the NGNuk Executive meeting of the 26th April.
Peter McD. Black
Executive Chairman