INCA Seeks to Standardise Wholesale Full Fibre Among UK Altnets

The Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA), which represents many of the UK’s alternative gigabit broadband builders, has today launched a new initiative that aims to “standardise wholesale fibre” networks and thus make it easier for retail and business ISPs to purchase services from operators.

Some 30 alternative networks are currently backing INCA’s Wholesale Standards initiative, which seeks to create a “homogeneous standard” that can ease the process for ISPs to purchase services from altnets, particularly in regions where such operators have deployed full fibre (FTTP) broadband networks and Openreach will not cover in the short to medium term.

The initiative is said to have been in the works for some time, but has only recently gained significant momentum. Key contributors include Altnets operating wholesaler networks, Altnet and traditional ISPs along with OSS/BSS software vendors. The initiative will endeavour to lower the practical, commercial and technical barriers to doing business at this level.

The program is structured around three critical workstreams, each addressing a key aspect of the Wholesale Standards initiative:

The Three Key Workstreams

1 – Regulatory:
This workstream is focused on aligning the initiative with Ofcom’s ongoing Telecoms Access Review (TAR) consultation. The group provides guidance and regulatory direction to ensure that the standards being developed comply with the latest regulatory requirements and support a fair and competitive marketplace.

2 – Commercial:
To facilitate the adoption of Wholesale Standards, this workstream has developed a draft framework contract designed to serve as an “off-the-shelf” agreement. This standardised contract addresses all key commercial aspects, significantly reducing the effort and complexity associated with negotiating multiple bilateral agreements.

3 – Technical:
The technical workstream is tasked with defining a unified set of message flows, data models, and APIs. These standards will be supported by multiple BSS (Business Support System) suppliers, enabling ISPs and Altnets to interconnect more efficiently on a common platform. This commonality streamlines operations and fosters easier integration across the industry.

The work on wholesale standards is also somewhat complementary to INCA’s similar work-stream on infrastructure sharing, which focuses more on creating a standard framework for passive infrastructure access to reduce the need for new cable ducts and poles to be built (i.e. fewer street works and lower build costs, as well as fewer related gripes from the residents).

James Warner, CEO of FullFibre, said:

“Lowering complexity and cost, to enable National ISP’s to consumer services from Altnets more easily, is vital to help sustain long term infrastructure competition in the market. By developing common standards, we can achieve this and help the scale players to help themselves in providing the best options available to consumers.”

Guy Miller, CEO of MS3 Networks, said:

“The UK has moved on from one or two underlying network suppliers and is starting to enjoy what competition and innovation brings. It is critical however that these alternative networks are standardised to allow easy access for retail ISPs to take advantage of this and ultimately provide better quality and value to homes and businesses around the country. MS3 is proud to be part of this initiative.”

Over the years we’ve seen plenty of retail broadband ISPs highlight the extra costs and complexity with needing to onboard new networks, which can be very tricky to overcome for those networks with more of a wholesale-only focus.

Suffice to say that anything able to reduce the cost and complexity of onboarding, such as through shared standards, is obviously something that’s going to be of benefit and helps to make the commercials more attractive to retail ISPs.