World Dialogue on Regulation

The African Union (AU) is calling on member states to adopt ICT policies that meet regional needs and not just the needs of individual countries.

Esam Abulkhirat, at the AU’s Human Resources Science and Technology Department said that inter-country ICT projects will be successful only if member countries harmonise their policies. Most African countries have already adopted, or are in the process of developing ICT policies.

Differences in the pace of ICT adoption are hindering implementation of regional projects, Abulkhirat said. Examples of countries out of step with the region include Ethiopia, which bans text messages, and a number of other countries that prohibit VoIP.

Eastern and southern African countries are investing in undersea fibre optic cables that are expected to increase ICT capacity and usage in the region. According to Mark Matunga of Microsoft, the lack of basic infrastructure - including electricity and telecom network access - has been a hindrance to the effective use of ICTs in education.

Source: SciDev.Net - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News.

Thailand’s National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has ended CAT Telecom's monopoly on international Internet gateway (IIG) services by allowing other licensees to connect directly with foreign carriers.

The old IIG regulations required licensees to connect with foreign carriers only through CAT's facilities. Now, holders of type-2 IIG licenses are allow to connect directly with foreign carriers to provide service to local Internet service providers (ISPs). True Corp is one of the major holders of the type-2 IIG license, which is for ISPs without their own network.

In response to the regulatory changes, CAT said it planned to ask the NTC to revise its draft regulations controlling the pricing of IIG services, as they currently apply only to CAT. This means that True, as a type-II licence holder, could offer prices that CAT would be unable to match.

Source Thai News Service and The Nation - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News.

India’s telecommunications regulator, Trai, has asked the EU to allow Indian mobile operators to negotiate with their European counterparts to cut roaming costs. The move comes after members of the European parliament approved a plan to reduce roaming tariffs throughout the EU.

Trai hopes that Indians travelling in Europe would pay the new roaming tariffs. It has requested that the EU facilitate a process so that Indian operators can negotiate with European operators. In return, Europeans travelling to India would pay reduced roaming charges.

"This is just a request. Trai does not have jurisdiction with regard to international roaming, which involves mutual commercial agreements between operators. We have only written to the European Telcoms Commission that Indian interests should also be kept in mind," Trai chairman Nripendra Misra said.

The European Parliament voted to cap roaming tariffs at EUR 0.49 per minute for outgoing calls and EUR 0.24 per minute for incoming calls. According to the new legislation, these tariffs will be lowered to EUR 0.46 and 0.22 for outgoing and incoming calls respectively, in the second year following its introduction, and then to EUR 0.43 and 0.19 by 2009.

Indian mobile operators, on average, charge European customers in India over 1.83 Euros per minute for an outgoing call and EUR 1.37 per minute for an incoming call. Indian mobile users travelling in Europe are charged between EUR 1.65 - 2.20 per minute for an outgoing call and EUR 0.73 - 1.10 per minute for an incoming call.

Source: The Economic Times - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News.

Belarus is holding a tender to select universal service providers for 2007-2008.

The tender includes two categories of services: provision of access to local telephone networks via individual line service or payphone service in unserved areas; and provision of Internet access in public telecom offices.

The key criteria for selecting providers are capital investment in universal telecom services and date when the provider will be able to grant access to public telecommunications networks. Bids will be accepted until June 25, 2007.

“It will take a couple of days to draw the results. The winner will have to develop communications networks in 2007-2008, and both telephone services and Internet access must be provided in the areas where they remain unavailable now,” a government representative said. There may be two or more winners, the representative added.

Belarus’ operators appear interested in the tender. A Beltelecom representative said the company plans to bid. The press service of the Belarusian-Russian mobile operator Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), said it would study the conditions first and then decide whether or not to bid. The administration of the third GSM operator of the country, ZAO BeST, is undecided.

On February 20, 2007, President Alexander Lukashenko signed ordinance #96 that approved the establishment of the targeted budget telecom services fund, which will be financed by a telecom operator levy of 1.5% of revenues. Belarus’ universal service fund will receive an estimated US$ 13.6 million this year.

As of January 1, 2007, there were 490 telecommunication operators in Belarus. The largest operators are Beltelecom, mobile operators MDC, MTS, BeST, BelCel and postal monopoly Belpochta.

Source: Prime-Tass - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News.

Venezuela’s government has purchased a controlling stake in Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela (CANTV), the largest Venezuelan telecommunications operator. The government increased its ownership of CANTV to 86.2% from 6.6% after buying shares through a tender offer on the Caracas and New York stock exchanges.

Venezuela’s Telecommunications Minister, Jesse Chacon, said the government spent US$ 1.3 billion to increase its ownership. The government has said it intends to assume operational control of CANTV during the first week of June. The total payment includes US$ 572 million that Venezuela agreed in February to pay Verizon for its 28.5% stake.

The government will pay for the purchase by asking Congress to add about US$ 700 million of oil income to the budget and by withdrawing about US$ 700 million from an off-budget fund known as Fonden, Chacon said.

During the process, the government also plans to buy up all of CANTV's remaining American depositary receipts. Removing CANTV from the NYSE will eliminate a chief method Venezuelans have used to skirt currency exchange controls. Venezuelans often buy local CANTV shares and convert them into American depositary receipts that can be sold for dollars, bypassing the currency restrictions. Venezuelans also buy dollar-denominated bonds to skirt the controls.

Other CANTV shareholders include Spain’s Telefonica, which owns 6.9%. CANTV employees own a small stake. The company also has about 43,000 small shareholders.

The government will seek to retain current CANTV, Chacon said. The company is having a hard time retaining executives who have already announced plans to resign, Chacon added.

The company’s new board of directors will have to find ways to fulfil Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez's promises to improve customer service and quality. Chavez also recently announced plans to add millions of fixed lines and expand mobile service during the next 18 months.

Source: International Herald Tribune - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News.