World Dialogue on Regulation

A growing number of African countries are in the process of formulating their ICT policy. In Sub-Saharan Africa the process in Kenya is well documented. The International Development Research Center (IDRC) supported research book At the Crossroads: ICT Policy Making in East Africa describes and comments on the process of the inception of Kenyan ICT policy. A year after the publication we draw up the balance with the Harvard based Kenyan ICT Policy researcher Warigia Bowman.

The Colombian telecom regulator (Comisión de Regulación de Telecomunicaciones – CRT) has recently released two reports on developments and current status of its national telecom sector. “Developments in the Telecommunication Sector” released in June, was prepared for the ITU New Initiatives Programme, The Future of Voice. In July, an Informe Sectorial de Telecomuncaciones (Sectorial Report on Telecommunications) was also published – the seventh in a series of annual stock-taking on the country’s telecom terrain, with a particular focus on investment.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and infoDev have released two sections for their joint ICT Regulation Toolkit initiative. This online toolkit is a module-based repository of regulatory information, practices and resources to address new and emerging  issues in a rapidly evolving regulatory terrain.

The Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications of the Government of Chile, through the Undersecretary of Telecommunications, started, on May 18th, a public consulting process called “Removal of Obstacles for the Development of the Telecommunications in the Short Term."

An informal “open access task force” composed of African NGOs and small and medium sized ISPs has been created to lobby for the implementation of an open access model in internet infrastructure on the continent. The task force, which began its activities since the beginning of March 2006, looks the way to involve African governments for the democratization of East Africa Submarine System (EASSy).

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Government, civil society, media and the private sector are working together in a novel approach involving a multi-stakeholder alliance on ICT for development policy. Known as the Multi Sector ICT Dynamic (MICTD), the approach's ultimate objective is "to democratise access to ICTs in the DRC and transform them into a real tool of empowerment".

The president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, has signed a new Telecom Law to establish an independent regulator, the Telecoms Regulatory Authority of Afghanistan (TRAA). To create the new body, existing regulator the Telecoms Regulatory Board (TRB) has been merged with the State Radio Inspection Department (SRID), previously part of the Ministry of Communications (MoC). The TRAA will be solely responsible for all regulatory functions in the telecom sector, including licensing, compliance, spectrum planning and assignment, numbering, ensuring network interconnection, promoting competition and consumer protection, whilst the MoC will take a policy-making role. The TRAA is due to formally commence operations by the middle of this month, once its budget has been approved by the Ministry of Finance.

Source: Telegeography