available mean that investors and operators are often reluctant to invest solely in one technology. Fibre plant is a more future-proof investment than cop-per, structure-sharing strategies can be used) and can take as little as 18-24 months to become profi table and justify the initial investment, particularly in high-growth because copper plant cannot deliver the same emerging markets. Wireless deployments throughput as fi bre. Copper-based broadband also typically has higher operating costs than fi bre, al-though have thus become the domain of the private sector, but government support for fi xed infrastructure may not be fully aligned with a mobile broadband future. initial outlays may be less. In response, many operators are hedging their bets and investing in a range of next-generation tech-nologies Network investments are also a major business bet, in the absence of any clearly superior technology and while regulatory regimes for NGN are still evolv-ing. to mitigate the risks posed by technological “ The different competing wireline technologies change. The UK’s British Telecom, Germany’s Deut- Th e key factor to remember [....] is that it is not about asking your engineers which is the best technology […], it is all about economies of scale; if we don’t fi nd the global economies of scale, we don’t achieve aff ordability, we don’t reach the low cost of equipment, we don’t reach the low cost of devices, we don’t have the ecosystem necessary to support roll-out, not only in Sweden or Portugal or US or Japan, but in rural Africa. ” Source: Ulf Pehrsson, Vice President, Government and Industry Relations, Ericsson, Strategic Dialogue Panel 4 at 39:00 available at: http://www.itu.int/ibs/wtpf/2009/sd/ 43