World Dialogue on Regulation

New Players in Network Development

The current WDR Online Dialogue is dedicated to the current WDR research theme, Diversifying Participation in Network Development, and began in the Dialogue section of this site on 20 June 2005.

JOIN THE DIALOGUE 

The Online Dialogue has been a central feature of the WDR network since its inception. During the WDR research and dialogue cycles, the Online Dialogue invites comments, questions and discussion from WDR participants and observers, based on their own experience, research, analysis or observations. It also provides researchers an opportunity to disseminate some early results of their investigations on the WDR theme.

The WDR theme, diversifying participation in network development, arises because participation in telecom development has traditionally been restricted to national monopolies or specified nationally licensed operators, with restrictions against the participation of others in supplying telecom facilities and services, or in acting  as intermediaries or facilitators of demand. There is a growing recognition that the full development of networks and services will require a much wider diversity of participation from both the public and private sectors, including local initiatives and public-private partnerships. The dialogue is exploring these possibilities and their implications in the variety of circumstances where network development is needed.

New Players in Network Development:
Case Studies, and Experience (good, bad or indifferent)

Dialogue Focus, 20 June - 29 July

Our collective experience should provide some lessons for application elsewhere. The collection of cases/experiences will be maintained in a separate thread of the dialogue and will provide reference points for some of the issues being discussed.  Examples could be a local telephone cooperative, the use of a new technology, a new intermediary buying services for a community, a new kind of business model, etc. Where further information is available, contributors should include contact information or a URL for the project.

A short description of this dialogue theme is at: www.regulateonline.org/content/view/172/31/.

An RSS feed is available for the online dialogue.

Questions or comments about the WDR dialogue should be addressed to Amy Mahan. To visit the Online Dialogue, click on DIALOGUE in the menu at the top or bottom of this page.