November 24, 2009

The TRA issued the recommendations of the 9th Global Symposium for Regulators in a press release issued on Wednesday, November 18th. The TRA Chairman thanked all the regulatory bodies who participated in the consultation process for their constructive input in the “Best Practice Guidelines on innovative regulatory approaches in a converged world to strengthen the foundation of a global Information Society” and summarized the upcoming action plan as follows:

I-Promoting convergence to further develop ICT and broadcasting markets.

• We recognize that convergence is a technology and market driven process.
• We recognize that regulators should take an active part in setting international standards relating to convergence in order, for example, to ensure an optimum level of quality of service and increased interoperability between different networks, applications, services and
• We recognize the importance of universal access to broadband services, notably by developing broadband policy and a targeted universal access strategy and by cooperating with governments and international organizations.

II- Building effective regulatory institutions

• We recognize the importance of regulatory authorities being able to carry out their mandate efficiently
• We recognize that the creation of a converged regulator in charge of ICTs and broadcasting could be an effective step towards enabling market integration in a converged environment.
• We recognize the importance of close collaboration with other concerned agencies to ensure that appropriate measures and tools are put in place to safeguard Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
• We recognize the importance of international cooperation between national and regional regulatory authorities in building a harmonized and coordinated approach to oversee the evolution of the converged markets.

III-Using regulatory tools to stimulate investment in a converged world

We recognize that, in order to stimulate investment to grow converged markets, regulators need to further:

• Build an adaptive regulatory framework by adopting a technology neutral approach
• Encourage the roll out of broadband infrastructure (especially in remote and underserved areas)
• Foster competition in converged services over wireless networks through efficient and integrated spectrum management.
• Shift regulatory attention from retail to wholesale markets

IV- Stimulating growth in innovative services, applications and devices towards connecting the unconnected and for benefit of consumers

• We believe that governments and regulators have a key role to play in stimulating demand for ICT services and applications, in framework of broader strategic goals.
• We recognize the key role regulators and other relevant agencies play in overcoming connectivity challenges, increasing ICT literacy and awareness of security issues
• We suggest that governments may consider using public funds to finance infrastructure roll-out in areas where private sector investment is sufficient

To view the press release in full, click here

To view the best practice guidelines in full, click here