Gaps in telecommunications public policy: end to end service delivery in the NBN world

The future success of telecommunications service providers will depend critically on achieving end-to-end performance that meets the reasonable expectations of customers for services carried over IP-based packet switched, multi-services, multi-carrier networks. In the Australian context the NBN will be a fundamental part of the IP based next generation networks. Agreed end-to-end performance standards for IP based networks have been established by both international and Australian regulatory and standards organisations. However standards for the allocation of the 'QoS budget' between segments provided by different carriers for the various parameters comprising those performance standards have yet to be adequately developed. While the importance of such standards is recognised, progress in this regard is very slow. The need for action by the appropriate authorities both in Australia and internationally is rapidly becoming critical to enable network suppliers, including but not limited to NBN Co, to build complying networks in a timely fashion.