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Abstract: The deployment of fibre based Next Generation Access Networks (NGANs) entails a crisis dilemma. During crisis, public administrations are eager to actively impulse investment in NGANs since the deployment of these networks may increase productivity in the long run and promote economic recovery in the short run. However, the crisis has reduced the access to the credit market and has increased the fiscal deficit. Consequently, the resources of the public sector to invest have been severely limited. Thus, it is crucial to analyse how the public investment plans in NGANs should be designed and implemented during bad times, under scarcity of public resources. The article proposes some guidelines for the design and implementation of effective and affordable public projects for the deployment of NGANs. These guidelines are illustrated by discussing the Xarxa Oberta case, a project for the deployment of a NGAN in Catalonia (Spain). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article focuses on the status of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) telecommunication access technology in Spain. It discusses the Fotón Project, which is a collaborative effort launched by Telefónica de Espana SA and Sogecable SA to provide cable television (CATV) services in the country by deploying FTTH. It notes that main alternative operators urge Comisión del Mercado de las Telecommunicaciones (CMT) to draft regulatory framework for FTTH.

The article focuses on the guidelines published by the Spanish Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (CMT) on the future regulation for the next-generation access (NGA) networks in Spain. The guideline provides provisions that aim to boost optical fiber network investments in the country. It asserts that deployment of NGAs will be a challenge to the telecommunication sector. The scenario would allow speed and multiplicity of services after achieving competition in services and infrastructures.