Attendees:
Peter Black (NGNuk) - Chair
Clive Fedida (NGNuk)
Angus Flett (BT Wholesale)
Justin Fielder (Easynet)
Huw Saunders (Kingston Communications)
Phil Kirby (Vodafone)
Steve Unger (Ofcom)
Tony Siebert (Cable & Wireless)
Keith Monserrat (Ntl)
Phil Male (Thus)
Apologies:
Douglas Lamont (Orange)
1.1 See outstanding actions update at the end of this document.
2.1 The first draft of the Articles of Association (Constitution) was sent to the Executive on 11th April 2006. Comments were received back by the secretariat and a second draft sent to the Executive on 26th April 2006. Feedback at the meeting indicated that the content was good and subject to some tidying up and removing a few drafting inconsistencies, it should be ready for agreement by the Executive.
Peter Black reported that the Ofcom Board had reconfirmed that the qualification for Executive membership is to be a substantial investor in and operator of NGN infrastructure and to have the intent to interconnect with other NGN operators.
2.2 Regarding Participating and Associate membership, it was agreed that this should be as wide as possible across the stakeholder community to ensure that consultation was open and transparent.
2.3 Peter Black proposed that the target date for publishing the agreed constitution should be the week commencing 8th May (probably Tuesday 9th May). The current draft should be socialised within members' businesses and completed feedback should be submitted by close of business Friday 28th April. Members were also asked to provide the legal entity name of the company that will be signatory to their membership application. The secretariat will circulate the final draft constitution by midday on Tuesday 2nd May. Any remaining feedback will be dealt with either bilaterally or if necessary via conference call.
Action 1 - 27/4 - Members agreed to socialise the latest draft constitution within their businesses and submit completed feedback by close of business Friday 28th April. Members also agreed to provide the legal entity name of the company that will be signatory to their membership application.
2.4 Membership Application - Peter Black proposed that an invitation to apply for membership should be published at the same time as the agreed constitution. To that end, he is preparing a suitable press release in collaboration with Ofcom and will share the draft with members on Thursday 4th May.
Action 2 - 27/4 - Peter Black to circulate draft press release inviting NGNuk membership applications by Thursday 4th May.
3 Competition Law (Elizabeth McKnight - Herbert Smith LLP)
3.1 At the inaugural meeting of the NGNuk Executive, it was agreed as a high priority that the Executive should ensure its activities were in compliance with all relevant competition laws. Elizabeth McKnight of Herbert Smith LLP was duly invited to brief the Executive on its competition law obligations.
3.2 Under Article 81/Chapter I Prohibition of EU and UK competition laws, agreements which have the object or effect of preventing, restricting or distorting competition in the UK/EU are prohibited. However, an agreement may be permissible if, despite the fact that it may restrict competition, it fulfils certain additional criteria namely that:
3.3 Risks of infringement can arise from decisions or recommendations to adopt particular technical or commercial solutions which unjustifiably favour some industry players over others or unjustifiably foreclose competitive opportunities or entail/lead to price-fixing or marketing sharing. Risks would also arise if NGNuk were to become a forum for the anti-competitive sharing of information among participants. It was noted that Ofcom's ratification of an NGNuk recommendation would not necessarily exonerate decision makers from flawed recommendations.
3.4 Penalties for infringement can be fines of up to 10% of turnover for an intentional or negligent infringement. If the outcome of an infringement leads to adverse impacts, decision makers are potentially liable in damages regardless of whether the infringement is intentional or unintentional.
3.5 To reduce the risk of infringements, it was agreed that:
3.6 In addition to Article 81/Chapter I Prohibition of EU and UK competition laws, NGNuk must comply with EC rules on free movement of goods and services. Any NGNuk decisions or recommendations must therefore avoid acting as an unjustifiable impediment to inter-state trade eg. standards must be framed by reference to EU/international standards; must not restrict or discriminate against non-UK businesses etc. This prompted a question about virtual interconnect with offshore located nodes. It was agreed that this point must be specifically addressed.
3.7 Where it is likely that an issue will inevitably need to be referred to Ofcom for consultation and determination, NGNuk should ensure it does not duplicate the work of Ofcom prior to the referral.
4.1 Angus Flett clarified the BT position on progressing commercial matters outside NGNuk. He confirmed that BT is not proposing to stop industry consultation and bilaterals relating to the immediate deployment of 21 CN eg. areas such as SIPI, NCC lite etc. However, BT feels it should not be pre-empting NGNuk's work on future commercial interconnect models.
4.2 Huw Saunders concern was that during the hiatus of NGNuk start up, there were CPs willing to start a debate on future commercial models now and a delay would result in a loss of momentum.
4.3 Following some discussion on how best to make useful progress in the short term, the Executive resolved to focus the next meeting on the commercial work-stream to address three themes in particular:
It was agreed that the secretariat will prepare a brief for members outlining the objectives and agenda and the advance preparation required by members. In outline, members' input for the session will be called for within two weeks (ie. 12th May) and will be aggregated by the secretariat and used to structure the Executive session on 31st May.
Action 3 - 27/4 - It was agreed that the next meeting will focus on the commercial work-stream. The secretariat will prepare a brief for members outlining the session objectives and agenda and the advance preparation required by members. In outline, members' input for the session will be called for within two weeks (ie. 12th May) and will be aggregated by the secretariat and used to structure the Executive decisions on 31st May.
5.1 BT will be announcing its revised plan for 21 CN shortly. Angus Flett provided the Executive with an advance brief on the announcement.
5.2 Angus outlined two key elements of the new plan. Firstly, because the SIPI interconnect product will not be launched until late 2007, the start of the mass rollout of 21CN has been delayed to line up with this date. The initial exchanges in the Cardiff area will be used as proof of concept. Secondly, in order to move to the next generation broadband products at the earliest opportunity, it is now planned to beta trial them in the middle of 2007 with the intent to launch in early 2008 with a 60% national footprint.
6.1 Action 4 - 30/3 (previous meeting) refers. It was agreed that this action which was aimed at making an early start on the commercial issues has been superseded by Action 4 - 27/4 under agenda item 4.
7.1 Clive Fedida proposed an outline of the way the NGNuk programme of work should be tackled. NGNuk has a clear duty to ensure the legitimate requirements of all stakeholders are understood before finalising decisions and recommendations. Activities which support requirements, solutions and implementation need to be apparent in the overall programme plan for NGNuk. This is not intended to imply that work cannot progress in parallel in each area.
7.2 The initial planning stage (90 Day Plan - Draft 0.5) was presented. The critical milestones identified are:
8.1 NGNuk Executive Meeting Minutes - It was agreed that in future the meeting minutes would be circulated in draft for members to review and once agreed would be placed on the NGNuk web site.
8.2 NICC Governance - Steve Unger reported that agreement was reached today (27th April) that in principle NICC would move under the IEE and that the programme management will be strengthened as recommended by Ofcom. There was also a need to prioritise its workload some of which is likely to be appropriate to be sponsored by NGNuk.
9.1 The next meeting will be 9.00 to 14.00 on 31st May 2006 at Riverside House. The earlier start will allow time for the focus on the commercial work-stream.
9.2 Future scheduled meetings:
| Date | Meeting | Time |
| 31/5/2006 | NGNuk Meeting | 10.00 - 14.00 |
| TBA | NGNuk Meeting (previous date of 29/6 clashes with another NGN industry event) | 10.00 - 14.00 |
| 27/7/2006 | NGNuk Meeting | 10.00 - 14.00 |
| 31/8/2006 | NGNuk Meeting | 10.00 - 14.00 |
| 28/9/2006 | NGNuk Meeting | 10.00 - 14.00 |
| 26/10/2006 | NGNuk Meeting | 10.00 - 14.00 |
| 30/11/2006 | NGNuk Meeting | 10.00 - 14.00 |
| 14/12/2006 | NGNuk Meeting | 10.00 - 14.00 |
Clive Fedida
NGNuk Office
07802 782357
020 7783 4684
clive.fedida@ngnuk.org.uk
| Action 1 - 30/3 - Peter Black will arrange a suitable presentation on impact on NGNuk of Competition Law. 27/4 - see agenda item 3 above. CLOSED | Peter Black |
| Action 2 - 30/3 - NGNuk Office will prepare a first draft MOU in the next 10 days and circulate to the Executive Members for feedback on matters of principle. 27/4 - Draft 'Constitution' sent to Executive on 11 th April 2006. Comments received and second draft sent to Executive on 26 th April 2006. Reviewed under agenda item 2 above. CLOSED | Peter Black |
| Action 3 - 30/3 - All Executive Members to arrange to meet with Peter Black for sessions to go through their NGN business plans and future NGN services vision. 27/4 - this action is well-advanced. Presentations have commenced and all are expected to be completed at the start of June. CLOSED | All Executive Members |
| Action 4 - 30/3 - All Executive Members to send their list of Desired Outcomes and Key Issues to Peter Black to allow a suitable fast-track session on the workstreams to be scheduled. 27/4 - Only one feedback was received. This action has been superseded by Action 4 - 27/4. CLOSED | All Executive Members |
| Action 5 - 30/3 - Huw Saunders agreed to share the draft of terms of reference for the new Consult 21 Commercial Group. 27/4 - This action has been superseded - see discussion under agenda item 4 above. CLOSED | Huw Saunders |
| Action 6 - 30/3 - Huw Saunders to set up a presentation from the co-chairs of the Consult21 Network Hooks Group to explain why the workgroup appears to be having difficulty making progress. 27/4 - Huw Saunders hopes to confirm this next week. Ongoing | Huw Saunders |
| Action 1 - 27/4 - Members agreed to socialise the latest draft constitution within their businesses and submit completed feedback by close of business Friday 28th April. Members also agreed to provide the legal entity name of the company that will be signatory to their membership application. | All Executive Members |
| Action 2 - 27/4 - Peter Black to circulate draft press release inviting NGNuk membership applications by Thursday 4 th May. | Peter Black |
| Action 3 - 27/4 - It was agreed that the next meeting will focus on the commercial work-stream. The secretariat will prepare a brief for members outlining the session objectives and agenda and the advance preparation required by members. In outline, members' input for the session will be called for within two weeks (ie. 12th May) and will be aggregated by the secretariat and used to structure the Executive session on 31st May. | All Executive Members |