During Session 7, on Market Entry in a Converged World, Ms. Mindel De La Torre presented to the participants an overview of ITU- Study Group 1 Report, Question 10-2. She explained that with the convergence in telecommunications and broadcasting markets, some countries have been modifying their regulations with the objective of promoting the provision of innovative services, the reduction of prices and the increase of efficiency in provisioning the services. Therefore, reforms of regulatory frameworks have focused on two key elements: the introduction of the principle of technology and service neutrality, and the establishment of greater flexibility in key aspects of their existing regulatory frameworks.

Ms. De La Torre added that they noticed three trends of licensing reforms among countries: simplification of licenses, reduction or elimination of the administrative and formal requirements to enter the market and last some countries has opted for the elimination of licenses.

She also informed the participants that regulators have begun to adapt the traditional, service-specific approach to authorizations. There are now three broad approaches to authorizations in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector:

• Service-specific authorizations: these authorizations allow the licensee to provide a specific type of service
  
  
• Unified (or global) authorizations: these authorizations are technology- and service- neutral
  
  
• Multi-service authorizations: these authorizations allow service providers to offer multiple services under the umbrella of a single authorization, using any type of communications infrastructure and technology capable of delivering the services in question.
  
  

Finally, she encouraged regulators to consider the following principles when transitioning to a converged licensing framework:

• Fostering technology neutrality;
  
  
• Ensuring flexibility to allow the new licensing regime to accommodate future technological and market changes;
  
  
• Simplifying the number of licenses categories;
  
  
• Reducing administrative burdens and fees on market players;
  
  
• Applying incentive mechanisms that encourage existing operators to transition to the converged licensing framework, e.g., fee holiday;
  
  
• Ensuring transparency with regard to converged licensing responsibilities;
  
  
• Fostering close collaboration amongst appropriate entities with regulatory and oversight responsibilities regarding a converged licensing framework; and
  
  
• Referring to international best practices and international regional organizations to help harmonize licensing approaches.
  
  

Following Ms. De La Torre presentation, Mr. Sarma, moderator of this session, opened the floor to a discussion with the panelists.

During the panelists’ discussions, Dr. Imad Hoballah, Commissioner, Board member, and head of Telecommunications Technologies Unit at the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Lebanon, stressed on the fact that the authority faces many constraints that include, but not limited to, the legal and business environment and the current state of the market inherited from the previous administration.

He mentioned the importance of technology neutrality and the broadband licensing plan issued for consultation, and he explained the difference between the 2 categories of licenses: NBL and NBCL. He concluded with the following statements:

"I will take this opportunity to mention something that is not a secret. We are trying to deal with issues associated with the implementation of telecom law 431.The TRA has been facing many constraints for the past almost 3 years...We prepared a lot of regulations for consultation. I will congratulate the TRA members and the Lebanese on the formation of the government. I call upon the prime minister, the minister of telecommunications, the minister of information and politicians to really move quickly to implement law 431 which still has not been fully implemented yet, and to kick start ASAP what I will call Telco-Information (Telco-Broadcasting) Reform. It is the right time for it. We need to change the view of the sector from a cash cow only to an economic Arabian breeder."

The discussion can be summarized as follows:

The trend towards convergent services is going fast; users are not differentiating anymore between mobile and fixed providers. For example, a consumer is getting nowadays a fixed telephony service with an internet connection as well as an IPTV subscription all subscribed to with a single operator. This trend is leading to a unification of licensing regime. Regulators are therefore reviewing their traditional licensing frameworks to adapt to the next generation services whilst keeping technology and service neutrality.

The main challenges encountered are:

• Manage competition as well as the monitoring and assignment of frequencies
  
  
• Ensure fair treatment of migration for long term licenses that have not reached yet the end date. In the case of Tanzania, the mobile operators were given a network facilities license as well as a network service license
  
  
• Ensure technology neutrality to enable the co-existence of all technologies in the provision of communication services
  
  
• Manage the split between the provision of content and the licensing for broadcasting
  
  
• Create a “one stop shop” principle at a minimum cost to reduce the administrative burden of traditional licensing regimes