The latest Communications Management Association (CMA) survey has revealed that 90% of telecoms businesses believe Ofcom should provide the regulatory framework to support investment in next generation access (NGA) broadband networks. Only 28% of those agreed that market-led initiatives would be sufficient to ensure the full rollout.

However over half of companies (56%) surveyed said they were not prepared to pay any more for next generation access business connectivity services this year.

Other findings of the survey included:

* Eight out of 10 businesses surveyed believe public incentives must play a central role to enable next generation roll-out, while just 10 per cent believe the necessary regulatory initiatives are already in place to allow full next-generation access roll-out

* Six in 10 say 10 Mbps is the minimum bandwidth that should be provided by next generation access

* Three in 10 believe 1 Gbps is the bandwidth required to meet core business needs in 2012, however, only 28 per cent believe current plans for a universal 2Mbps would be appropriate for the country’s business needs.

A number of those surveyed also highlighted the increasing importance of video and similar applications to their operations, which will no doubt continue to grow as the years roll past.