Next-generation access (NGA) describes a significant upgrade to the Broadband available by making a step change in speed and quality of the service. This is typically thought of as asymmetrical with a download speed of 24Mb plus and a fast upload speed. The Definition of UK Superfast Next Generation Broadband OFCOM have defined NGA as in "Ofcom's March 2010 'Review of the wholesale local access market" "Super-fast broadband is generally taken to mean broadband products that provide a maximum download speed that is greater than 24 Mbit/s. This threshold is commonly considered to be the maximum speed that can be supported on current generation (copper-based) networks."
Contents
Milestones
Operators around the world have been rolling out high-speed Internet access networks since the mid-2000s. Some used a network topology known as Active Ethernet Point-to-Point to deliver services from its central office directly into subscribers' homes. Fibre termination was handled by a residential gateway provided by Advanced Digital Broadcast inside a subscriber's home to be shared with other consumer electronics (CE) devices.
Since 2007, Italian access providers Fastweb, Telecom Italia, Vodafone, and Wind participated in an initiative called fibre for Italy, with the aim of creating a countrywide fibre-to-the-home network in Italy. The pilot taking place in the Italian capital, Rome, has seen symmetrical bandwidth of 100 Mbit/s. Telecom Italia, which refused to take part in the fibre for Italy initiative, has an even more ambitious plan to bring fibre-to-the-home and fibre-to-the-business to 138 cities by 2018. By the end of December 2010, the total number of fibre-to-the-home enabled homes had passed 2.5 million, with more than 348,000 subscribers.)
Fixed wireless and mobile wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi, WiMAX and 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) are an alternative for providing Internet access.
Regulation
In September 2010, the European Commission published a new Recommendation for Regulated Access to NGA Networks along with a list of measures to promote deployment of fast broadband and next generation access networks.