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ITU released a major report on regulation in the
information and communication technology (ICT) sector on 27 November 2008
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The annual Trends in Telecommunication Reform publications
are a key part of our dialogue with the world’s information
and communications technology (ICT) policy-makers and
regulators.
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This 9th edition addresses the next wave of regulatory
reforms necessary to promote widespread, affordable
broadband access in developing countries. It examines
passive and active infrastructure sharing, mobile sharing,
spectrum sharing, open access to national fiber backbone
infrastructure, sharing access to international capacity,
business sharing regulation (including international roaming
regulation and functional separation); end-user sharing and
policy and regulatory issues related to IPTV and mobile TV.
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Market & regulatory trends |
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Growth in ICTs
and in competition worldwide,
1995-2007, in billions
Note: Service
totals are cumulative
Source: Trends in Telecommunication Reform 2008:
Six degrees of sharing |
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More analysis in Trends 2008
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Level of competition in
selected services world, 2007
Source: Trends in Telecommunication Reform 2008:
Six degrees of sharing |
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The first wave of sector reforms in the 1980s and 1990s attempted to create more transparent and stable legal and regulatory frameworks. The goal was to attract investment and make progress toward universal access by liberalizing market entry for new operators and service providers. Drastic changes in the sector flowed from technological innovations, convergence of services and competition growth. These changes may now require a further regulatory shift to open more market segments to competition and update licensing and spectrum management practices in order to foster growth in broadband networks and converged services...
More analysis in Trends 2008
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Growth in the number of regulators worldwide
Source: Trends in Telecommunication Reform 2008:
Six degrees of sharing |
As of
October 2008, 152 countries had created a national regulatory authority for
their ICT and telecommunication sectors. Africa now has the highest percentage
of countries with a separate sector regulator (93 per cent) followed by the
Americas (89 per cent) and Europe (80 per
cent). The Arab States and Asia-Pacific number 66 per cent
and 62 per cent, respectively...
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Among
the 152 regulators are several converged regulators – or regulators
responsible for regulation both the telecom/ICT and the broadcasting sector,
such as those in Australia, Finland, Italy, Malaysia, South Africa,
Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States...
More analysis in Trends 2008
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| Previous
reports in this series |
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| ITU-infoDev
ICT Regulation Toolkit |
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The
ICT Regulation Toolkit is a web-based tool, organized as a series of
online modules to provide regulators, telecom service providers, policy makers, sector experts and the general public with
the latest developments on regulatory topics, best practices, and case studies. |
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Contents of the report
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Insights from the 2008 edition |
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 Infrastructure-sharing regulation and policy addresses
two broad issues that are often viewed as the stumbling
blocks to the speedy roll-out of national telecommunication
infrastructure:
1) Opening up access to “bottleneck” or “essential” facilities,
where a single dominant infrastructure operator
provides or leases facilities.
2) Promoting market investment in deploying high capacity
infrastructure to unserved or underserved areas.
See Chapter 3: Extending open access to national fibre backbones in developing countries
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Rolling out mobile networks involves intensive investment and sunk costs,
potentially leading to high mobile-service prices. Mobile infrastructure sharing
is one alternative for lowering the cost of network deployment, especially in
rural, less populated or economically marginalized areas. Mobile infrastructure
sharing may also stimulate the migration to new technologies and the
deployment of mobile broadband networks. Mobile sharing may also enhance competition among
operators and service providers.
See Chapter
4: Mobile network sharing |
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Various spectrum-sharing methods
are increasingly being used to respond to the escalating
demand for spectrum, which has been sparked by the
seemingly unstoppable surge in new wireless services and
technologies. Spectrum sharing encompasses several techniques
– some administrative, some technical, and some
market-based. Spectrum can be shared in several dimensions:
time, space and geography.
See Chapter
5: Spectrum sharing |
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Liberalizing access to international gateway facilities can lower infrastructure
costs and promote infrastructure sharing, while multiplying the amount of international capacity available to operators.
The result can be a rapid ramp-up of international traffic, coupled with lower prices for international communications.
See Chapter
6:
International gateway
liberalization Free! |
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Functional separation is a recent response by regulators and governments to the serious problem of anticompetitive,
discriminatory behaviour by incumbents. It has arisen from a concern that existing rules and remedies are inadequate to deal with the problem. So far, implementation
has been limited mainly to a small number of developed countries, although it appears to be gaining currency in several other countries.
See Chapter
7: Functional separation |
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International mobile roaming is becoming an increasingly important issue on the international regulatory and policy agenda. International roaming
can also be
viewed in a much wider context, as a tool for forging regional cohesion – in effect, regional network sharing.
See Chapter
8: International mobile roaming |
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Global distribution of IPTV
subscribers, 2007
The deployment of IPTV and mobile TV changes traditional perceptions and challenges existing laws and regulations. Both services offer enormous opportunities to
provide consumers new platforms for multimedia content, enhancing competition and boosting broadband deployment.
See Chapter 9: IPTV and mobile TV: New challenges for regulators
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Sharing technologies is a common behaviour among people around the planet. End-user sharing is not just about accommodating network access scarcity. It’s also about supporting new
applications, models and modes of collaboration. Sharing can be a good thing even when private, individualized access enjoys high rates of penetration.
See Chapter
10: End-user sharing |
Buy
the 2008 report!
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