Switching and All-IP Migration Special Interest Group Meeting

Customer Switching and All-IP Migration will see a seismic change to the way we have to work in our industry at Retail and Wholesale layers. INCA has been working hard with the various regulatory and industry bodies involved. Consumer messaging will start Q1 2020 and the new cross-platform switching system will need to be implemented by INCA operators and service providers by the end of 2020.

At the INCA Switching and Wholesale Workshop on 25th November, INCA Members decided we should investigate practical steps to help members implement the new systems and processes that will be required, and we're establishing a special interest working group (SIG) to take that forward.

All INCA member organisations are invited to join the Special Interest Group, and participate in this first meeting of the group.

Gainer Provider-Led (GPL) Switching

David Halliday from OTA2 participated in the November workshop. His team has been tasked by Ofcom with putting forward options for a GPL switching process that will go out to further consultation with the aim of implementing by the end of 2020. INCA, ISPA, FCS and a wide range of companies have participated in the discussions, leading with two main candidate approaches emerging (plus variants) - a single stage process and a two stage process.

We will discuss the latest position at the meeting.

Wholesale Aggregation

Under the new GPL process and the All-IP Migration process there is a clear need for INCA Members to engage with the Wholesale Market and with other Retailers. A growing body of operators and service providers are pushing for an aggregated approach to offering wholesale access to networks, particularly amongst Wave 2 providers.

This is a topic that is being actively explored by a number of different groups and organisations. Should INCA do more than simply keep members informed? Is there a need for a truly independent platform? The workshop will discuss what we have learned so far and lay out a work programme to take the process forward.

At the Switching and Wholesale Workshop in November, at our AGM and the subsequent dinner event, there was a clear instruction from members that INCA should take action on this subject. This Special Interest Group is your opportunity to help shape that action and we hope you will be able to contribute to this important initiative.

Community Fibre have generously offered to host the first meeting of the Special Interest Group at their offices in Paddington, London.

If you would like to participate and be kept informed, but can't get to this first meeting, please let us know here.

If you have any queries about this meeting please contact Gill Williams or Malcolm Corbett.

Image cropped from a photo of Merchant's Walk at Paddington Basin by Jim Linwood, used under the terms of this Creative Commons licence.