World Dialogue on Regulation

The websites of national telecommunications regulatory authorities can be important vehicles for information dissemination, communication and transparency. Through them citizens and consumer organisations can get information about their rights and how to exercise them, the telecom industry can access information about standards, policies and procedures, and regulatory agencies can signal their willingness to be accountable, examined, available and reported upon. A well-designed and complete website can promote effective and efficient citizen and industry participation.

A new study by WDR researcher Amy Mahan compares the websites of eighteen national regulatory authorities from Latin America and the Caribbean and concludes that the there are large variations between countries in terms of quality of the information and accessibility.

A Spanish version, Estándares de comparación para los sitios web de los entes reguladores nacionales de América Latina y el Caribe, is also available.

Chile's Subsecretaría de Telecomunicaciones was given the best overall rating, followed by Argentina and Nicaragua. At the other end of the scale, El Salvador's Superintendencia General de Electricidad y Telecomunicaciones received the lowest rating, followed closely by the regulators in Ecuador and Costa Rica.

Executive Summary

National regulatory authorities have a key role to play as information society drivers and facilitators by providing an example of using new technologies and facilitating access to, among others, legislation, standards and best practices for information and communication technology (ICT) adoption and development. Regulatory authority websites constitute an important vehicle for information dissemination, communication and transparency. As most national regulatory entities already have a website or are in the process of establishing one, it is clear that this is viewed as an important or necessary activity. Yet, while there exists a plethora of e-governance studies, and exponentially more for e-commerce, regulatory authorities’ e-efforts have received little attention as to what constitutes effective components. This study contributes some analysis and benchmarks in this regard. This current survey, carried out during December 2004 – January 2005, focuses on Latin American and Caribbean regulators’ websites.

This study grew out of a collection of regional preliminary surveys examining the extent to which regulators were using websites to inform and communicate with the public – including citizens, the private sector, the media and researchers and other governmental and non-governmental organisations. The benchmarking assessment documents the incidence of different aspects that are important for regulator’s web presence across the categories of basic information and responsiveness, factual information about the national telecom sector, consumer and citizen information including universal service and complaints procedures, business related information and forms, and information about the regulator and regulatory processes.

Particular information elements within each category are ranked according to the range of information provided, accessibility and whether information is maintained and kept up-to-date. The degree of interactivity and usability of the information (the site’s searchability, hyperlinking of information, forms, etc.) are also considered.

Although the study cannot claim to measure the overall effectiveness, efficiency or transparency of the regulator, the study works to clarify categories of information and their respective users, and to indicate responsiveness and interactivity in providing information. Finally, it is hoped that regulators will benefit from an awareness of how other national regulatory websites provide access and serve their respective communities.

Annex 1 provides the names and website addresses of the regulators studied and Annex 2 provides detailed documentation of the research findings.