John Henry COMMUNICA Issue Four | Page 49

VenturaNext Open Access Model SP SP SP OA Portal Network Operator Fibre Owner Fibre Owner Local Authorities should invest in their Pure Open Access infrastructure rather than allow third parties to own and control the direction of digital advancement of their towns and cities. What will happen in parallel is that other land owners, housing associations and developers can now act in collaboration and determine that fibre be deployed across land, that fibre be specified for all new build homes as part of the fit-out, that regeneration projects or refurbishment projects include fibre deployment. Proactive cities are already disseminating across all departments that whenever civil works are planned that ‘connectivity’ is an important consideration. We are at the start of huge changes in the UK. In recent years the UK has been left behind when it comes to broadband connectivity and it has been left to the few incumbents to resolve. Government support and funding balanced with increasing consumer demand now converge and action is needed now to ensure that in a post Brexit Britain our digital roadway is without doubt the road to success. The Editor of COMMUNICA Magazine would like to thank Richard Watts and Ventura Next for their continued support and contributions to this publication and to John Henry Group. Have an article or white paper you would like to contribute to COMMUNICA Magazine? Contact the editorial team at communica@ johnhenrygroup.co.uk. About the Author Richard Jones is the author of several white papers and is a London-based strategic telecoms consultant He has led cutting edges including the business case and strategy for the world’s first 1 Gbps everywhere fibre to the home (FTTH) incumbent network and a mini- NBN. Richard is Chairman of the FTTH Council MENA - Smart Cities Committee and the chairman of their annual conference. He also co-founded leading NGA telecom consultancy Ventura Team LLP - creating and improving telecoms operations - including strategy/planning for several billion dollars worth of investments and strategy for the first 'gigabit everywhere' incumbent operator, creation of a national broadband network and a major joint venture for FTTH with an notable electricity company. Who should own the fibre infrastructure of our future digital networks? Ventura Next White Papers Gigabit speed ‘fibre to the home’ (ftth) is the infrastructure on which the digital economy of the future will be built. A case for local authority, real estate and land owner investment. Information featured in this article can be downloaded online in Richard’s white paper at: www.vx.se/resources | 49