WDR e-Brief - Volume II, # 3, 13 May 2003
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In this e-Brief
Q&A: Are we asking too much from regulatory authorities?
Join the 2003 Online Dialogue
WDR 2002 Report: Summary available in multiple languages - More sought
African Declaration on ICT Access
Telecentres as a means to universal access
Networking Africa's Future
WSIS: Access to ICTs for all in Africa
WSIS: "Visions of the Information Society"
LINK Centre Expands Research Focus
Economics of Infrastructures 6th International Conference
WDR gets Hits
Subscribing and Unsubscribing
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Welcome to the third issue of the WDR e-Brief for 2003. WDR e- Brief is an
occasional electronic bulletin from the World Dialogue on Regulation for
Network Economies (WDR). The e-Brief keeps you informed of new documents and
ongoing discussions on our website and features information and comment of
interest to the regulatory community. Please forward it to interested
colleagues and let them know they can subscribe for free from the WDR
website at http://www.regulateonline.org/ . There are currently more than
1,200 subscribers.
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Q&A: Are we asking too much from regulatory authorities?
In each WDR e-Brief we feature a question or comment posted to the Online
Dialogue at http://www.regulateonline.org/dialogue/ and ask our research
teams to comment. The featured question in this e-Brief arises from the
background paper for the 2003 Dialogue, Stimulating Investment in Network
Development .
Question: Isn't the expanded focus for regulation outlined in the WDR
Background Paper asking far too much from national telecom regulatory
authorities (NRAs)? Most have difficulty coping with their existing
responsibilities. By attempting to take on additional responsibilities, the
NRAs run a high risk of deteriorating performance of existing
responsibilities.
The reply comes from William Melody, General Manager of WDR.
Answer: There is certainly a risk of deteriorating performance if telecom
regulation cannot adapt to the rapidly changing circumstances in the ICT
sector. But if it doesn't attempt to adapt, it is guaranteed that its
performance will deteriorate. Regulation is already being called on to adapt
to the issues of ICT convergence arising from changes in technologies and
markets, and the limited supply of the necessary skills to regulate
effectively. These issues were examined in the 2002 WDR Report, Next
Generation Regulation: ICT Convergence or Multisector Utility. Clearly most
NRAs are not prepared to take on the expanded focus for regulation, which
increases both the regulatory responsibilities and the magnitude of the
skill shortages.
It is evident that technologies and markets in the ICT sector are changing
much faster than regulation. Although in most countries regulation is doing
things to facilitate some sector reforms, it is at the same time providing
barriers to others. The prevalent model of industry specific telecom
regulation is now almost 20 years old. If regulation is seen as a static,
rather than dynamic institution, it will rapidly become obsolete. We have
learned from the collapse of the financial markets in the telecom/ICT sector
that the overall circumstances of the sector economy have changed
dramatically. Telecom regulation cannot ignore this and go merrily about its
traditional activities as if nothing had changed. If it does, then its
performance will certainly deteriorate and run the risk of becoming a cause
of sector problems rather than a contributor to sector development.
Until the financial market collapse, regulation was correctly focused on
supply-side issues - privatisation, licensing new operators,
interconnection, terms of competition, network rollout for universal access,
etc. Under conditions of waiting lists and pent-up demand, inherited
inefficiency of incumbent operators, new technologies and services (e.g.,
mobile, VANS, Internet), and multiple bidders for licenses, the regulators'
task has been primarily removing restrictions that prevent potential market
participants from supplying services.
The drying up of investment in the sector means that a single focus on
supply side issues is no longer appropriate. The simple expansion of supply
opportunities as the policy and regulatory focus for promoting network
development has reached its limit far sooner than originally expected
because the financial markets have suddenly and dramatically reduced the
supply-side opportunities. A focus only on supply-side issues is not going
to accomplish much over the depressed ICT sector business cycle that will
continue for some years. Both policy and regulation must turn their
attention to the conditions of demand and what regulation can do to
stimulate demand as the catalyst for further investment in network
development. The Background paper for WDR Dialogue Theme 2003 outlines a
framework for examining demand issues within a more holistic context of
demand-supply relations in telecom/ICT markets. The challenge of developing
operational regulatory standards, practices and activities that will
stimulate demand-driven investment is posed as the WDR Dialogue theme for
2003.
Regulation must either take up this new challenge, or ignore reality and
degenerate into obsolescence. How well regulation adapts to the new market
circumstances, and how effective its performance turns out to be, will be
influenced in part by the contributions to the WDR Dialogue 2003, the
research that it stimulates and the report that is issued. This will require
significant contributions from many people.
William Melody
April 2003
Download the background paper from
http://regulateonline.org/2003/dp/dp0301.htm
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Join the 2003 Online Dialogue
With the release of the background paper for Dialogue 2003, the online forum
has also been launched. In his opening posting to the Forum, WDR Managing
Director William Melody wrote:
The challenge is to turn telecom regulators from being the causes of
regulatory risk into being the causes of reductions in investment risks in
the telecom/ICT sector. Although different countries will have different
priorities, there are common issues and priorities across a great many
countries... we want to begin with a focus on the top priority issues that
regulators must attend to in order to make a mark in the short term. What
are they and specifically what should regulators do?.
Comment on the 2003 theme and the questions raised (or not raised) in the
Dialogue 2003 forum in WDR's Online Dialogue at
http://www.regulateonline.org/dialogue/ .
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WDR 2002 Report: Summary available in multiple languages - More requested
The final report on the 2002 research theme, ICT Convergence Regulation or
Multisector Utility Regulation, is only available in English, but a summary
of the report is available in multiple languages. You can download the full
report in English or the summary in German, Greek and Italian from the
download page at http://regulateonline.org/2002/dp/dp0206.htm
More languages are in the works. If you or your organisation can provide
translations of the Executive Summary into other languages, please contact
Merete Henriksen at [log in to unmask] Translations will be posted on the
website and you will be given credit.
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WSIS: Access to ICTs for all in Africa
At a regional conference in Mauritius, 3-5 April 2003, African communication
ministers, joined by some telecom regulators, developed a Declaration on
"Access to ICTs for All". The purpose of the conference was to build on the
Declaration of the earlier ministerial conference in Mali, in preparing
Africa's contribution to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).
Full WDR story at http://regulateonline.org/news/africaictaccess.htm
The Declaration and more information on the conference is at
http://www.icta.mu/conf/
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Networking Africa's Future
Also on the subject of telecentres, IDRC Canada sponsored a major conference
on "Networking Africa's Future: Lessons of empowerment from communities" at
Pilanesberg, South Africa, 13 - 16 April. It focused on disseminating
results from its Acacia programme, which has developed experimental
telecentres and related activities throughout several African Countries in
recent years.
Full story at http://regulateonline.org/news/networkafrica.htm
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WSIS: WDR helps define "Visions of the Information Society"
The second global preparatory meeting for the World Summit on the
Information Society was held in Geneva February 17 to 28. As a contribution
to the meeting, the ITU commissioned a series of papers aiming to present
various perspectives and to examine a number of key themes on the
information society. Two WDR/LIRNE.NET associates were involved in the
project and the papers are now available on line at the ITU site.
Professor Robin Mansell, holder of the Dixons Chair in New Media and the
Internet at the media and communications programme at the London School of
Economics and Political Science presented a paper entitled The information
society: A developed world perspective examining the information society
from a developed country perspective. Bruce Girard, who directs WDR's
internet strategy, was co- author, with Sian S Siochrz, of Information wants
to be free, which examines conflicts between copyright and the public
sphere.
Other papers in the series dealt with network security, accessible and
affordable ICTs, education and human capital, and the information society
from a developing world perspective.
Visions of the Information Society: An industrialized world perspective, by
Robin Mansell is at: http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/visions/developed/
Visions of the Information Society: Information wants to be free, by Sean S
Siochrz and Bruce Girard is at http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/visions/free/
All six papers and more information about the Visions project is available
at http://www.itu.int/visions/
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Tele-centres and Universal Access
WDR researcher Morten Falch and co-author Amos Anyimadu have just published
a paper on telecentres in Africa. "Tele-centres as a way of achieving
universal access - the case of Ghana" appeared in Telecommunications Policy
Vol. 27, Issues 1&2 (2003), pages 21-39. The issue of Telecommunications
Policy presents recent research regarding the digital divide and the
development of a modern communications infrastructure in Africa.
Telecommunications Policy website
http://www.elsevier.com/inca/publications/store/3/0/4/7/1/
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LINK Centre Expands Research Focus
The Link Centre of Wits University in South Africa, one of LIRNE.NET's four
member institutions, is expanding its programme to include broader ICT
information infrastructure and knowledge economy issues in addition to its
established focus on telecom policy and regulation. Three new priority
themes are being added: ICT governance, ICT driven institutional
restructuring and human capital. Masters and PhD programmes are also being
added.
More information at http://regulateonline.org/news/linkresearch.htm
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Economics of Infrastructures 6th International Conference
Infrastructure Liberalisation - Speed up or step back?: Preparing for the
next phase of telecom and energy reform is the theme of the 6th
international conference of Delft University of Technology's Economics of
Infrastructures group in cooperation with the Benelux Association of Energy
Economists. The conference will take place in Delft, the Netherlands, on May
22 and 23, 2003. For more information, consult the conference website at
http://www.ei.tbm.tudelft.nl/ei6conference/complete_ei6conference.htm
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WDR gets Hits
The regulatory community is increasingly aware of WDR and the valuable
resources it offers. In March WDR surpassed its own record, receiving more
than 50,000 hits from thousands of visitors. The 2002 final report has been
downloaded more than 400 times and the background paper for Dialogue 2003
has been downloaded more than 200 times. Thousands of copies of the various
WDR research papers have been accessed over the website's brief history. The
e-Brief now has more than 1,200 subscribers.
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Questions and support
If you have questions about WDR, send them to [log in to unmask] For
technical matters, contact us at [log in to unmask] or see the
Frequently Asked Questions section in the Online Dialogue
http://www.regulateonline.org/dialogue/
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Subscribing and Unsubscribing
The WDR e-Brief is a monthly bulletin from the World Dialogue on Regulation
for Network Economies - http://www.regulateonline.org . Subscribe from the
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Bruce Girard [log in to unmask] edits the e-Brief with assistance
from Divakar Goswami.
Archives: http://www.comunica.org/w-agora/index.php?bn=wdr_ebrief
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The purpose of the World Dialogue on Regulation is to critically examine
ideas and evidence. Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in
content appearing on the WDR website, the Online Dialogue and the WDR
e-Brief are the personal views of the individuals submitting them. Content
does not necessarily reflect the views of LIRNE.NET, infoDev, the World
Bank, the International Telecommunication Union, the International
Development Reseach Centre or any other organisation associated with the
World Dialogue on Regulation.
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