Snakes and ladders: Unbundling in a next generation world

Next generation access (NGA) networks are an opportunity and a challenge for regulators. Unlike the costs of a copper access networks, those of an NGA are not yet sunk; hence fixed monopoly suppliers need an incentive to invest. This need is likely to influence the regulator's unbundling and access pricing regime, including application of the 'ladder of investment', which encourages competitors to develop their own infrastructure. This paper considers how the ladder is affected by NGAs, taking account of both the changed network architecture of NGAs, which may remove the unbundled local loop access point, and problems associated with providing an incentive to take the copper network out of use.