World Regulators Focus on Licensing Rules, Broadband
The potential benefits of Wi-Fi and how best to encourage the roll out of the Internet across the world are among the likely hot topics at the ITU’s 2004 Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR) next week, which for the first time will be chaired by a U.S. regulator -- FCC Comr. Abernathy. Abernathy told us Mon. she’s approaching the session with an open mind and the U.S. also has much to learn, for example on how other nations are handling universal service.
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“I have a belief that broadband and the Internet is going to dramatically change the way we're all educated, the way we receive health care,” Abernathy said: “The benefits are going to find their way to all countries. It’s huge… We're hoping to get together and figure out how do we tap into this and bring the benefits to our consumers.”
The official theme of the meeting is “licensing in an era of convergence.” Sources said regulators will be looking at how regulatory processes must change in a converged world. Traditionally, one source noted, especially in some nations regulators established the rules of the road through licenses. But that makes less sense in an era of convergence and given the large number of competitors challenging incumbents.
“The old way of regulating… doesn’t seem to work anymore,” Abernathy said: “You have to step back and say what’s the appropriate regulatory framework… Sure, you've still got your host monopoly provider, but there’s a lot of other options out there. You need to think beyond ‘I regulate a monopoly’ to ‘How do I create an environment that attracts investment?'”
Wi-fi, which is suddenly emerging as a major alternative in the U.S., will likely be an area of discussion, Abernathy said. The U.S. has adopted an unlicensed approach. “Wireless appears to be one of the lowest cost alternatives out there,” she said: “The question is how does it fit in” with other regulation. How to make spectrum available, through auction or other means, is another likely topic. Discussion is also expected on how countries in the developing world can limit spam.
The U.S. also has much to learn from the discussions, for example, as it struggles with changes to the universal service fund system, said Abernathy, who has attended 2 other GSRs. “It’s amazing to me how that with every country that we do bilaterals we're all approaching similar challenges,” Abernathy said.
The GSR meeting will be in Geneva starting Dec. 8. Companies including Nortel Networks, SITA, Telecom Somalia, Intrado, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm and Clearwire have been invited to provide technical demonstrations. Day one will be open to companies and other invited guests, as well as regulators. The following 2 days involve closed door meetings with just regulators.
GSR sessions are largely “feel good” meetings that give regulators from around the world a chance to interact, said a source who has attended previous sessions. However, they're viewed as important in other nations. For example, the chairmanship of the last GSR by a Jordanian was considered significant by the Arab group of companies. The licensing issue doesn’t loom that large in the U.S. but is historically significant for other countries. “Governments like India ran into a problem,” the source observed. “They found that the license terms they would do for one kind of a license, for example wireless, would be radically different than another license they would do a year later.” - Howard Buskirk