5.What is NGN?

Next Generation Networks (NGN) are characterized, among other things, by the prevalent use of a common packet transport for delivering a wide range of applications, from non-real-time to real-time, from single medium to multimedia. The advent of such general multi-service networks marks a major paradigm shift from today’s specialized networks with optimized performance for respective applications and gives rise to the need for supporting quality of service as dictated by various applications dynamically. This presentation will give an overview of the Q.4/13 activities on QoS support for NGN. In particular, it will highlight the emerging standard approach to dynamic, application-driven resource management that is known as the Resource and Admission Control Functions (RACF). Applicable to all network-controlled applications, the RACF can be used edge-to-edge or end-to-end, and be realized in various ways to support different business models.


There are two types of Next Generation Network (NGN): Core NGNs and Access NGNs.

Core NGNs use digital technology to connect telephone calls and other network traffic more efficiently than traditional telecoms networks. Internet Protocol (IP) based services can be developed more quickly and at lower cost to communications providers.

To build a core NGN, providers need to upgrade the equipment in telephone exchanges but don’t need to change existing wires and fibre in the ground. Ofcom’s NGN document published on 7 March 2006 focuses on core NGNs.

Access NGNs use new technology to upgrade the wires between a customer’s home or office and their local telephone exchange, sometimes known as the ‘local loop’. This upgrade might, for example, replace wires with optical fibre for part or all of the connection.

Building a core NGN does not directly affect these wires and Ofcom’s NGN document does not deal with the slightly different set of questions that this raises. Ofcom is continuing to think about access NGNs as part of ongoing market reviews and our input into the review of the European regulatory framework.