World Dialogue on Regulation

The first WDR/LIRNE.NET Expert Meeting in the Americas, 7-9 March in Montevideo, Uruguay, brings together members from the international network of LIRNE researchers who will present and discuss current regulatory challenges and opportunities. The theme of the three-day meeting is Wireless Opportunities and Solutions: A Regulatory Perspective.

The meeting will begin with a day of research presentations at which invited experts, including telecom regulators, industry representatives, specialised researchers and representatives of international organisations, will participate.

The keynote address will be given by Edwin San Roman, former head of the Latin American telecom regulators association, Regulatel and of Peru’s regulatory agency, Osiptel. He will speak on the Peruvian case and wireless opportunities and new market models to address universal access issues that persist throughout the region. This session will be opened by León Lev, president of the Uruguayan regulatory authority, URSEC.

Three panel sessions will be held during the first day. The first will present findings that explore demand-side market conditions and collecting ICT data to gain a better understanding of how the poor use telecom and ICTs. This panel is chaired by George Sciadas, an expert in conceptual, measurement and analytical work on information society issues. He is the editor of From Digital Divide to Digital Opportunities: Measuring Infostates for Development, published by Orbicom. The second panel, chaired by Amy Mahan of LIRNE.NET, features telecom sector assessment studies, including the Telecom Regulatory Environment methodology developed by LIRNEasia, that will be implemented for select countries in LAC during 2007. The third panel, chaired by Hernan Galperin (Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California and Universidad de San Andrés, Argentina), entitled Wireless Opportunities, provides an opportunity to consider developments already being implemented in Europe, as well as new ownership and business models that are made possible by emerging technologies. Also on this theme, Marcio Wohlers (ECLAC) will make a presentation on wireless cities.

The second day will be dedicated to discussion and refinement of the theme for the next LIRNE/WDR research cycle. Representatives from the different centres and regions will identify projects and methodologies around mobile and wireless opportunities and:

• new business models, and applications and services;
• proactive and inclusive regulatory environments; and
• wireless infrastructure, backbones and capacity.

The third day is reserved for internal meetings of the members of the LIRNE network.

The event will take place in the Cala di Volpe hotel, in Montevideo, Uruguay.
There is no charge for this event, but registration is required.

If you are interested in attending or would like more information about this event,
please contact Alexandra Dans.

Simultaneous interpretation between English and Spanish will be provided.