e) NGN evolutions are driven by market requirements and thus reflect emerging global standards. This implies that for migration to NGN, it is important that the regulatory framework takes account of these emerging standards and avoid to greatest extent possible the addition of country-specific requirements that could be costly to develop and may delay NGN deployment or service offerings. The challenge is for developing countries to actively contribute to and influence the international standardization process to include the capabilities required for the roll out of NGN networks and growth of the data communications within their environs.
f) Transition of current switched telephony networks to the future networks will take time, especially for services requiring reliable broadband access. Political decision makers will need to decide on the best way of promoting innovative services while maintaining and upgrading existing PSTNs to meet requirements. Policies will need to combine the benefits of the new services with continuity as regards the PSTNs, as well as any other social objectives such as extending existing universal service obligations to the new services, all in an environment in which market prices for transport services are likely to go on falling.