Economics of NGN deployment scenarios: discussion of migration strategies for voice carriers

Abstract:
There is a common view that the traditional circuit switched TDM technology will be replaced in the long term by packet based NGN networks (Next Generation Networks) for provision of voice services. With the successfull standardisation of the IMS - IP Multimedia Subsystem - a common platform architecture for time critical multimedia services for fixed and mobile networks will be available. The IP based NGN approach provides a couple of advantages. The hardware separation of transport layer, control layer and application layer functions opens a new dimension of network cost optimisation. However, incumbent voice operators, have to find a sustainable strategy to benefit early from the opportunities of the NGN technology and to protect investments in previous circuit based platform as long as economic viable. The presentation will discuss different migration paths in dependence on different network start scenarios by means of techno-economic analysis and will derive general guidelines about NGN migration scenarios from network operators point of view.