World Dialogue on Regulation

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The WDR 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, new projects 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 1,422 subscribers. 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 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

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Q&A: WDR Theme 2004/05 - Diversifying Participation in Network Development
In 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 is about the recently announced WDR research theme for 2004-2005. The answer is from WDR director, William Melody.

Question: The WDR Dialogue Theme 2004-05 is “Diversifying Participation in Network Development”. How does it relate to the 2003-04 WDR theme, and how will it be developed?

Answer: After considerable discussion the WDR Dialogue Theme for 2004-2005 has been selected to build on and expand the focus of the just completed network investment theme. For the past 15 months the research and dialogue on the theme, Stimulating Investment in Network Development: Roles for Regulators, has identified areas where regulators can reduce barriers to investment and investment risk, and enhance consumer opportunities. At the same it has begun to identify an increasing diversification in the sources, and potential sources of network investment. The theme for 2004/05 will be Diversifying Participation in Network Development.

Read the full answer at: http://www.regulateonline.org/q&a/240504.htm

Post your comments and questions on the WDR Dialogue at http://wwwregulateonline.org/dialogue. The above question and answer appear under the discussion of Dialogue 2004.

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African Researchers and Regulators Dominate WDR Cairo Forum
At the WDR Expert Forum in Cairo, 2-4 May 2004, the major players in the African ICT research and regulatory networks led a series of lively discussions on the WDR Dialogue Theme, Stimulating Investment in Network Development: Roles for Regulators. The event began on 2 May with a review of research on telecom reform in Africa and its implications for network investment, bringing together WDR researchers and key contributors in the new Research ICT Africa (RIA) network. The LINK Centre at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa played a major role as both WDR research partner and central node in the RIA network.

A full report, including programmes and abstracts of the papers, are available on the WDR website at http://www.regulateonline.org/news/cairo04.htm

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ITU Telecom Africa & African Telecommunication Indicators 2004
Advantage Africa! was the theme of the ITU's Africa Telecom meeting in Egypt. The traditionally involves an exhibition and a Forum. While exhibition was relatively small it was impressive, with several new technology suppliers demonstrating the potential of their wares to provide low cost access solutions to the continent. Unfortunately, according to Alison Gillwald of South Africa's LINK Centre, "The obstacles to effective delivery of communications services lie not in the technology, or even the absence of financial capital... but in the policy and regulatory environment that restricts the cost effective delivery of services and applications critical to the integration of Africa and to its effective participation into the global economy." Unfortunately, Forum presentations "chose to optimise the public relations opportunity afforded by the event, rather than critically assess the aspects of underdevelopment that continue to plague the African ICT sector". Gillwald does have some praise for another ITU initiative, African Telecommunication Indicators 2004, which does not shy away from looking at some of the more troublesome aspects of the state of telecoms on the continent.

Read Gillwald's review of Telecom Africa and African Telecommunication Indicators 2004 http://www.regulateonline.org/news/africatelecom04.htm

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Two New WDR Discussion Papers Posted
The final discussion papers for the WDR 2003/04 theme have been posted at the site. One is a wake-up call from Alison Gillwald for the South African government. The case study provides extensive evidence around telecom investment and rollout showing the much-believed South African success story to be largely mythical. Gillwald's paper argues that there is significant evidence that demand for communications services can innovatively met through market forces and gaps in market cost-effectively filled by enabling alternative operators to enter areas regarded as unprofitable by the incumbents. However, their success in every instance in developing countries is dependent on strategic policy and effective market regulation that includes reduced regulatory risk to induce local and foreign investment.

In a survey of African national regulatory websites, Amy Mahan ranks the different NRAs in their online role of information society drivers and facilitators. Websites serve to highlight the use of new technologies, and be used to provide wider access to regulatory information, standards and best practices. The study ranks the sites across four thematic categories and provides discussion around the role of regulatory websites and the information they should provide and processes they should support.

The papers can be downloaded from:
http://www.regulateonline.org/ 2003/dp/index.htm#0309

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Research ICT Africa!
The LINK Centre of the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, a WDR research partner, is a founding member of Research ICT Africa!, a network that seeks to fulfil a strategic gap in the development of a sustainable information society and knowledge economy on the African continent by building information communication technology (ICT) policy and regulatory research capacity in Africa needed to inform effective governance. The Network is currently developing an E-Usage Index which seeks to measure what is happening in the ICT sector from the lens of users, consumers and those marginalised from services and to analyse access, demand and usage patterns in response to services delivered as a result of operators' responses to policy and regulatory framework.

Read about the E-usage Index at: http://www.regulateonline.org/news/eusage04.htm or visit http://www.researchICTafrica.net

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La Ond@ Rural: Radio, new ICTs and rural development in Latin America
Organised by the FAO of the United Nations, La Ond@ Rural was a regional workshop on rural communication held last April in Ecuador. The workshop's final document recognised the expanding role of information and communication in rural development initiatives. Representatives of regulatory agencies from various Latin American countries attended, including Alvin Lezama, Director General of Venezuela's CONATEL. Public policies and practices in rural broadcasting and telecommunication was one of the workshop's three main themes and participants called for a reformulation of legislative and regulatory frameworks in the region to better recognise and promote the role of broadcast radio and new ICTs for rural development.

Full story at http://regulateonline.org/index.htm#onda and more information from http://www.onda-rural.net

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Robin Mansell Nominated for IAMCR Presidency
Robin Mansell, head of WDR activities at the London School of Economics has been nominated for the Presidency of the International Association of Mass Communication Research (IAMCR), in forthcoming elections. IAMCR is the largest international professional organisation in the field of communication research. In her campaign statement, Mansell says she aims to "champion global inclusiveness and regeneration (including next generation researchers - both women and men) and to promote excellence within the best traditions of critical research".

More information - http://www.iamcr.net/

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Books:
New release: How to Build Open Information Societies
A collection of best practices and know-how
Edited by LIRNE.NET researcher Amy Mahan & Yuri Misnikov, UNDP 2004.
This book presents a collection of knowledge-based best practices accumulated by UNDP in Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Its main purpose is to identify and share UNDP’s know-how in this rapidly emerging area, by showing how ICT can promote socio-economic development and good governance.

Case studies and examples from 19 countries illustrate different e-governance programmes and applications – from a diverse range of initiatives including support for policy formulation, customs reform, youth sexual education, rural deployment of ICTs and training, country database building, and others.

The book is available from UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre and will soon be posted online for download. http://www.ecissurf.org/index.cfm?module=BookStore&page=Book&BookID=89

New online: Communicating in the Information Society
Edited by WDR staff member, Bruce Girard, and Seán Ó Siochrú, this book was launched at the World Summit on the Information Society. The contributions range from practical, down-to-earth advice on concrete implementation of an information society, through strategies to enrich the potential of WSIS, to philosophical insights into the central concepts. They all, in one way or another, support the idea that the process of communicating must be at the centre of an information society.

This book is now available for download from Communication Rights in the Information Society - http://www.crisinfo.org/content/view/full/231/

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LSE Department of Media and Communications - Media & Communications in an Uncertain World

The Department of Media and Communications of the London School of Economics has made its 2004/05 Research Review available online. The Review focuses on Media and Communications in an Uncertain World, which, according to the Department, emphasises its interest in the ways in which people are engaging with technologies, with the media, and with each other in an increasingly complex world. Using a variety of methods, the Department's research is providing accounts of the social determinants of ongoing transformations in the media and information and communication technologies in five thematic areas: Democracy, Globalisation, Literacies, Ethics, and Policy.

Download the 28 page publication at: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/media@lse/pdf/UncertainWorld.pdf

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WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News: Ghana: Government reviews telecommunications policy
18 May 2004 – The Ministry of Communications in Ghana is reviewing the policy implications and impacts of the liberalisation of the telecommunications industry. The policy review seeks to ensure that a clear regulatory framework is defined in order to assist with the formation of regulatory guidelines by the National Communication Authority (NCA). It is hoped that a new regulatory framework will help to restore investor confidence in Ghana’s ICT sector.

More information at:
http://www.regulateonline.org/intelecon/2004/May/A-Ghana-040518.htm

More WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News at:
http://www.regulateonline.org/intelecon/

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TU Delft Economics of Infrastructures 7th Annual Conference: 27-28 May 2004
The theme of this year's conference is Network Modernization: The impact of telecom and energy reform on investments and innovation in networks. For more information see the conference website: http://www.ei.tbm.tudelft.nl/ei7conference/complete.htm
or contact Wolter Lemstra at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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Questions and support
If 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/
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Subscribing and Unsubscribing
The 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 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 or visit the page
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Bruce Girard edits the e-Brief.
Archives: http://www.comunica.org/w-agora/index.php?bn=wdr_ebrief

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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.
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