The report, contained in an ITU publication entitled "Trends in Telecommunication Reform: The Road to NGN," was released after the UN-attached agency conducted a conference on NGN that was attended by several countries, including the Philippines.

The study was made to enable regulators and policy-makers in developing countries to better understand the changes transforming the ICT sector so they can evolve their policy and regulatory frameworks to leverage today’s technological and market developments, the ITU said.

"NGN heralds the shift from a ‘one network, one service’ approach, to the delivery of many services over a single network," the agency said.

Based on the Internet Protocol (IP), NGN migration builds on the expansion of broadband networks, the rise of Voice over IP (VoIP), fixed-mobile convergence and IP television (IPTV).

"These new networks are being developed using a number of technologies, including wireless and mobile, fiber and cable, or by upgrades to existing copper lines. While some operators are focused on upgrading their core -- or transport -- networks to NGN, others are tackling their access networks that reach the end user," it noted.

Developing countries seek to join the NGN bandwagon, the report pointed out, is for them to not necessarily adopt the same NGN experience as developed countries but to harness the potential of new technologies to meet their ICT development goals.

"The good news is that developing countries do not have to wait to meet their goals. Technological developments, such as broadband wireless access, are making ICT development a reality -- provided their regulatory framework is designed to remove obstacles to innovation and investment."

Growth in the ICT sector has been nothing short of buoyant in the past year. By the end of 2006, there were a total of nearly 4 billion mobile and fixed line subscribers and over 1 billion Internet users worldwide. This included 1.27 billion fixed line subscribers and 2.68 billion mobile subscribers. (Melvin G. Calimag)