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| WDR e-Brief, Vol.2, #6 |
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| Wednesday, 10 September 2003 | |
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* Q&A: Universal access, telecentres and regulators * WDR 2003 Expert Forum Set * WDR issues discussed with Regulatel regulators at training course * New resources on Latin America * Upcoming LIRNE.NET courses * WDR at Indian Telecom Reform Roundtable * Can the Internet be Governed? * Call for papers – Copyright and software patents: Open vs. proprietary paths * Resource page for WDR 2003 theme * Subscribing and Unsubscribing -------------------- Welcome to another issue of the WDR e-Brief. The e-Brief is an occasional electronic bulletin from the World Dialogue on Regulation for Network Economies (WDR). The e-Brief keeps you informed of new documents and ongoing discussions on our website and features information and comment of interest to the regulatory community. Please forward it to interested colleagues and let them know they can subscribe for free from the WDR website at http://www.regulateonline.org/. There are now 1,259 subscribers. -------------------- -------------------- Q&A: Universal access, telecentres and regulatorsIn each WDR e-Brief we feature a question or comment posted to the Online Dialogue at http://www.regulateonline.org/dialogue/ and ask our research teams to comment. The featured question in this e-Brief deals with a potentially novel way of contributing to universal service goals in developing countries. The answer comes from WDR director, William Melody. Question summary: In his question, Marcus Schneider argues that achieving universal access to information society services in developing countries will depend upon the financial sustainability of telecentres. This in turn is heavily dependent on the cost to telecentres of personal computers (PCs). Couldn’t NRAs facilitate the contribution of used PCs to telecentres by hosting and managing a supply and demand information page on its website? Further, couldn’t NRAs seek any needed legislative support to mandate used PC contributions to telecentres as justifiable to implement universal access policy. These activities would help stimulate demand for further network development. Answer: Mr. Schneider puts forward an interesting analysis of an important aspect of network development. It is now recognised that for the future the universal access/service problem is being transformed into a digital divide issue, i.e., access to more than just voice services must be provided. For many poor, underdeveloped and rural areas in most countries, these information services will have to be provided at a community level. Thus, the concept of a telecentre, in its broadest and most diversified interpretation, is the community level solution to overcoming the digital divide. This too has been widely recognised and there have been many innovative experiments in telecentre development and implementation. Two of WDR’s funding partners -- infoDev and IDRC -- have been leaders in promoting experimentation in this field. Unfortunately very few telecentres are proving to be financially sustainable once the donor funding stops. Sustainability requires both a major stimulation in demand and a significant reduction in unit costs. At this relatively early stage in telecentre development, the volumes of service being provided are far too low, and well below the capacity of the centres. Clearly raising prices is not a viable option for market development or increasing revenue. New and improving services will certainly help over the longer term - if there is a longer term. For most telecentres, and especially those in the more poor and rural areas, unit cost reductions are the key to financial survival over the short and medium term. The structure of telecentre costs varies considerably, depending upon local conditions. But for nearly all telecentres the largest cost items by far are PC costs and telecom service charges. This is partly because the majority of labour costs, and often rent, are donated or provided at reduced rates. Telecentres around the world now spend significant time and effort searching for contributions of used PCs. As the volume of used PCs in the world is increasingly dramatically with each new generation, the supply is enormous. Total telecentre demand in the world for used PCs must represent only a very small proportion of it. The questioner focuses on used PC transfers within countries and the possible role of NRAs in facilitating or mandating them. Certainly proactive NRAs could facilitate this process by providing an exchange information service on its website as part of its mandate to promote universal access. In fact, NRAs could provide other information services for and about telecentres as part of the universal access/service section on its website. Presently, most NRAs do not even recognise telecentres as an important vehicle for achieving universal access. And most NRAs are just beginning to recognise the potential of their website as an increasingly important vehicle for enhancing transparency and communicating more effectively with all their constituents. In countries that collect universal service funds from operators and service providers in the sector to subsidise network extension to high cost areas, contributions in kind of used PCs (or other equipment needed by telecentres and other universal service providers), instead of money, could provide an incentive to contribute used PCs. However, this would not only affect the established mechanisms for allocating universal service funds, reducing the money distribution, but also increase the complexity and costs of administering the fund. The possibility of mandating firms to donate their used PCs to telecentres is well beyond the legal powers of NRAs, and a non-starter as a new policy option in most countries. Some governments allow donations in kind – including used PCs - to charitable organisations as tax reductions. It may be necessary to classify telecentres as acceptable recipients of such gifts. In many countries, educational organisations and/or government agencies purchase PCs at special discounts under condition that they may not be sold on into the resale market. Government policy could give priority to telecentres to receive used PCs from these organisations. These are some options that could be recommended by NRAs to government policymakers as important elements that would contribute to achieving universal access policy objectives, but NRAs do not typically have the powers to take such decisions. The real opportunity opened by the used PC suggestion is the international dimension. In most developing countries the demand for used PCs (and most other things) exceeds supply. Despite this, PCs (new and used) attract import duties and special taxes. Prices are often higher than they are in developed countries where the supply of used PCs significantly exceeds demand. The challenge is how to get the excess supply of low value used PCs in developed countries delivered to the excess demand in developing countries from telecentres and other non-profit public service entities. If this opportunity is going to be seized, developing countries will have to remove or dramatically reduce import duties and special taxes, at least on used PCs. Then some agency with high international credibility and profile will need to take the lead in providing or sponsoring a web-based facilitation service for the international exchange of used PCs and other equipment and services needed by telecentres to help close the digital divide. A high profile international agency could provide the visibility to make participation in such a programme of public relations value to major international firms. Perhaps organisations like infoDev and IDRC, that have invested in nurturing telecentres to their current level of development, may find this initiative a natural and necessary next step in the march to critical mass and financial sustainability for telecentres. This is certainly an idea worth serious examination. Thanks to the questioner for highlighting this important issue. William Melody September 2003 Post your comments on the WDR Dialogue http://regulateonline.org/dialogue/. This question appears under the discussion of the 2003 dialogue theme http://www.comunica.org/w-agora/view.php?site=wdr&bn=wdr_theme2003&key=1061991623&first=1063122147&last=1044204547 -------------------- -------------------- WDR 2003 Expert Forums Set for November/DecemberThe WDR 2003 Expert Forum has been confirmed for 5 November at the Hvide Hus (White House) Conference Center, Koege, Denmark, near Copenhagen. The active participants in the 2003 WDR Dialogue on the theme, Stimulating Investment in Network Development: Roles for Telecom Regulation, and selected experts in the field, will debate the issues raised in the WDR background papers, the ongoing research at the LIRNE.NET Centers, and the web dialogue. This year’s forum will be held in conjunction with two LIRNE.NET regulatory training courses on The Transition to Next Generation Regulation: Strategies for Stimulating Investment and Competition. A second WDR Expert Forum is being planned for Johannesburg in December. Led by LIRNE’s South African partner, the LINK Centre at Wits University, this Forum will enable greater developing country input into the WDR. More information available at http://regulateonline.org/news/dkforum2003.htm -------------------- -------------------- WDR issues discussed at Regulatel courseLa Antigua, Guatemala is the site for a current LIRNE.NET course, Telecom Reform in Latin America: Regulatory Issues and Implications. The course is co-sponsored by the Latin American regulators’ association, Regulatel, and by Europe’s Independent Regulatory Group (IRG). The themes covered by WDR, including the possible role of the regulator in stimulating investment, feature high on the course agenda. A report of the course will be available soon. For more information and to see the programme, visit: http://lirne.net/training/recent/antigua2003/agendaeng.htm (English) or http://lirne.net/training/recent/antigua2003/agendasp.htm (Spanish). -------------------- -------------------- New Resources for Latin American RegulatorsSome of the documentation prepared for the LIRNE.NET/Regulatel course, Telecom Reform in Latin America: Regulatory Issues and Implications, is now available for download, including a collection of statistical resources for telecom reform in Latin America and and two briefing documents: Benchmark Indicators of Telecom Sector Development (and NRA Effectiveness?) and Benchmark Indicators for Regulatel NRAs: Results of a Preliminary Survey of NRA Websites. Statistical information resources for Latin America telecom http://lirne.net/training/recent/antigua2003/links/ Benchmark Indicators of Telecom Sector Development (and NRA Effectiveness?) http://regulateonline.org/pdf/laindi.pdf Benchmark Indicators for Regulatel NRAs: Results of a Preliminary Survey of NRA Websites http://regulateonline.org/pdf/lasites.pdf -------------------- -------------------- Upcoming courses at LIRNEWDR and LIRNE.NET are collaborating on two forthcoming courses on The Transition to Next Generation Regulation: Strategies for Stimulating Investment and Competition. The courses are designed to meet the needs of both regulators and the corporate sector in meeting the new challenges in a time when investment plans have been cut back and the force of competition has weakened. The courses will be held in conjunction with the annual WDR Expert Meeting, enabling participants to benefit from the participation of the WDR experts and providing practical feedback and comment for the WDR Dialogue process. Course information is available from http://lirne.net/training/nextcourse.htm -------------------- -------------------- WDR at Indian Telecom reform roundtableIndia’s National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) held a roundtable on telecom reform in Delhi on August 29, 2003. Participants included a broad section of the telecom community of India, among them the chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). Two WDR researchers participated, Rohan Samarajiva, team leader of the Public Interest Program Unit of Sri Lanka, and Anders Henten, associate professor at Center for Tele-Information of Denmark’s Technical University. The National Council of Applied Economic Research is India’s premier economic research institution, specialising in policy research, surveys, forecasting and tracking the economy. Full story at http://regulateonline.org/news/indiaroundtable.htm -------------------- -------------------- Can the Internet be Governed, and if so, How?Whether the internet economy can be governed, and if so, how, is a key current agenda in public policy, and one that is excluded from the current UK Bill on the regulation of the media and communication industries. It was also the topic of a public lecture given by WDR director, William Melody at the London School of Economics (LSE) on May 1, 2003. The speech is now available for download in PDF format from the LSE site. http://www.lse.ac.uk/objects/2003/08/15/20030815t1601z001.pdf -------------------- -------------------- Innovations in Denmark’s Telecom SectorWDR researchers, Anders Henten and Morten Falch presented a paper on Innovations in the Telecom sector: the case of Denmark at the ITS 14th European Regional Conference held in Helsinki, Finland, from August 23-24, 2003. The paper was based on a report prepared for the Danish IT & Telecom Agency in cooperation with Reza Tadayoni and Knud Erik Skouby from CTI. Get more information or download the paper http://regulateonline.org/news/innovatedk.htm -------------------- -------------------- Online resources page for WDR 2003 theme Stimulating Investment in Network Development: Roles for Telecom RegulationThe WDR resources page has links to online resources relevant to this year’s theme. A number of key articles and sites have been added along with abstracts and short descriptions. The page is at http://www.regulateonline.org/resources/ If you have other resources to suggest or work of your own you would like us to link to or publish on WDR, please send them to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it -------------------- -------------------- Call for papers – Copyright and software patents: Open vs. proprietary pathsOn 4-5 December 2003, the 8th annual international conference of Denmark’s Center for Tele-Information, a WDR research partner, will focus on copyright and software patents. The overall topic of the conference concerns open vs. proprietary development paths with respect to content and software production. In spite of the various specificities of the two fields, there is a common ground, and the conference seeks to explore both this common ground and the special features of the two areas. A selection of the best papers for the conference will be published in the international journal Telematics and Informatics in spring 2004. For more information, see the full call for papers notice at http://regulateonline/news/cti2003.htm -------------------- -------------------- Questions and supportIf you have questions about WDR, send them to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it For technical matters, contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or see the Frequently Asked Questions section in the Online Dialogue. http://www.regulateonline.org/dialogue/ -------------------- -------------------- Subscribing and UnsubscribingThe WDR e-Brief is a monthly bulletin from the World Dialogue on Regulation for Network Economies - http://www.regulateonline.org. Subscribe from the site or by sending a message to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it '; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy_text75544 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //-->\n This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it with the subject wdr e-brief list. To unsubscribe, send a message to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it -------------------- -------------------- Bruce Girard This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it edits the e-Brief with assistance from Divakar Goswami. Archives: http://www.comunica.org/w-agora/index.php?bn=wdr_ebrief -------------------- -------------------- The purpose of the World Dialogue on Regulation is to critically examine ideas and evidence. Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in content appearing on the WDR website, the Online Dialogue and the WDR e-Brief are the personal views of the individuals submitting them. Content does not necessarily reflect the views of LIRNE.NET, infoDev, the World Bank, the International Telecommunication Union, the International Development Research Centre or any other organisation associated with the World Dialogue on Regulation. -------------------- -------------------- World Dialogue on Regulation c/o LIRNE.NET Technical University of Denmark Center for Tele-Information, Building 371 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, DENMARK Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Phone: +45 4587 1577 - Fax: +45 4596 3171 http://www.regulateonline.org |
