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Enabling the ICT environment
The Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, adopted by world
leaders during the second phase of the World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS) in 2005, recognized that an enabling environment at the national and international level is essential for the development of the information society. ITU is the
lead international organization assisting countries in designing
and enforcing modern regulatory frameworks for telecommunications and information and communication technologies (ICT).
In May 2008, acknowledging ITU’s commitment to bridging the digital divide by creating such an enabling environment, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
officially handed over to ITU the lead facilitation role on WSIS
Action Line C6 (Enabling environment). Since then, ITU has
been acting as the sole facilitator for this Action Line, building
upon its regular work.
A facilitation meeting, organized by ITU in Geneva in May
2009 as an integral part of the WSIS Forum, recognized that a
platform for sharing best practices by all stakeholders would
be a viable driver of implementation of an enabling environment. A similar meeting, held in Geneva in May 2010, agreed
that multi-stakeholder partnerships (including public-private
and private-private partnerships) are the shortest way to a
broadband world.
Market growth and regulation
Huge strides have been made in the penetration of ICT
services since the first phase of (WSIS) in 2003, with particularly strong gains in mobile voice services (see story on
pages 4–8).
ICT markets have been dynamic — with new business
models and the commercialization of the latest technologies.
This has allowed for strong revenue growth for operators and
better value for money for consumers. Behind the scenes,
regulation has been one of the key factors creating an enabling environment which has been driving this growth in the
ICT sector.
To continue making progress in creating an enabling environment for investment in networks and services, competition
and innovation, ITU has drawn up a road map for the implementation of WSIS Action Line C6 until 2015. This road map
ITU News  10 | 2010  December 2010
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WSIS Action Line C6: Five years on
Enabling the ICT environment
catalogues a wide range of ongoing ITU activities in the area
of policy and regulation. It is intended to evolve as a living
document and will be updated on a regular basis with new
activities and initiatives.
Changing regulatory frameworks
Since WSIS, ITU has continued to assist countries around
the world to pursue sector reforms, ranging from introducing
limited changes to extended restructuring. The first wave of
regulatory reform has resulted in the establishment of separate telecommunication/ICT regulators, privatization, and the
liberalization of markets. Regulatory reform over the last five
years has attempted to create more transparent and stable
legal and regulatory frameworks to:
 oversee the introduction of competition and curb anticompetitive behaviour by natural monopoly incumbents;
 safeguard social interests in areas where the market may
be unable to deliver socially optimal outcomes;
 protect and empower consumers;
 establish ground rules for the use of common resources (spectrum, numbering and Internet protocol (IP)
addresses).
Major changes in the sector have flowed from technological innovations, convergence of services, and growth in competition. These changes may now require a further regulatory
shift to open new market segments to competition, and to update licensing and spectrum management practices in order
to foster growth in broadband networks, converged services
and new media as well.
Key ITU initiatives undertaken
ITU has undertaken many activities that foster the development of an enabling environment worldwide, including
information sharing, creation of tools for effective regulation,
national and regional assistance, and creation of training materials and opportunities. Some of these ongoing activities are
highlighted here.
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ITU News  10 | 2010  December 2010
Since its launch in 2000, the annual Global Symposium
for Regulators (GSR) organized by ITU provides a venue for
regulators and policy-makers from developed and developing
countries to meet and exchange views and experiences. GSR
also fosters an open dialogue between regulators and key ICT
stakeholders: the private sector, investors and consumers.
The outcomes of each year’s GSR are incorporated into
ITU’s annual Trends in Telecommunication Reform report. This
publication is a key part of ITU’s effort to explore and amplify
the wisdom of policy-makers and regulators in the ICT sector. For example, “Trends in Telecommunication Reform 2007:
The Road to Next-Generation Networks” reported on the
evolution of circuit-switched telecommunication into nextgeneration networks, as operators around the world fight to
remain competitive. The report aimed at enabling regulators
and policy-makers in developing countries to better understand the changes transforming the ICT sector so that they
can evolve their policy and regulatory frameworks to leverage
today’s technological and market developments.
“Trends in Telecommunication Reform 2008: Six Degrees
of Sharing”, published in November 2008, benefited from
contributions to the eighth meeting of the GSR that took
place in Pattaya, Thailand, in March 2008. The report outlined
sharing strategies grouped under six categories: passive and
active infrastructure sharing; open access to international capacity; regulations for sharing by businesses; sharing by end
users, and harmonization of policy and regulations.
The Trends report: “Hands-on or Hands-off? Stimulating
Growth through Effective ICT Regulation,” published in
February 2010, focused on the delicate balance in regulation
needed to meet the expectations of ICT stakeholders. This balance is critical to stimulating growth in a converged environment. The blurring of boundaries between the once separate
telecommunication, Internet, broadcasting and media worlds
is bringing new players to the arena, driving new opportunities and challenges. The report was enriched with contribu-
WSIS Action Line C6: Five years on
Enabling the ICT environment
tions on the same theme from the 9th meeting of the GSR
held in Beirut, Lebanon, in November 2009.
To better engage industry in the planning of future policy
and regulatory reforms, GSR has since 2008 been preceded
(in the same venue) by the Global Industry Leaders’ Forum
(GILF). For example, the 10th GSR meeting that took place in
Dakar, Senegal, on 10–12 November 2010, was preceded on
9 November by the 3rd GILF. Both events shared the overall
theme of “Enabling Tomorrow’s Digital World”. One of the
conclusions of the Dakar meeting was that a new ladder of
regulation may now be required to set the right balance between service and infrastructure competition to address the
challenges associated with access to broadband networks
and services.
Recent GSR meetings saw the adoption by the world
community of regulators of best practice guidelines focusing
on key areas of regulation, such as universal access (2003);
promotion of low-cost broadband connectivity (2004); spectrum management (2005); the migration to next-generation
networks (2007); infrastructure sharing (2008); innovative
regulatory approaches in a converged world to strengthen the
foundation of a global information society (2009); and enabling open access (2010).
The web-based ICT Regulation Toolkit, developed by
ITU and its partner infoDev and updated on a continuous basis, assists regulators in the design of effective and enabling
regulatory frameworks by sharing analysis and information
on important regulatory issues. The toolkit provides regulators, policy-makers, telecommunication service providers, sector experts and the general public with the latest updates on
regulatory topics, best practices and case studies.
ITU maintains the World Telecommunication
Regulatory Database, which can be accessed from the
“ICT Eye” website, a one stop-shop for ICT indicators and
statistics, as well as regulatory and policy profiles. ITU also
maintains the “Tariffs Policies” database and a database of
scientific institutions focusing on telecommunication and ICT.
In addition, the ITU/World Bank ICT Regulatory
Decisions Clearinghouse is an online resource that provides
a one-stop access point to decisions originating from ICT
AFP
Mobile phones have allowed farmers to sell their
crops directly to the highest bidder
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WSIS Action Line C6: Five years on
Enabling the ICT environment
decision-making bodies around the world such as telecommunication regulators, industry ombudsmen and specialized
dispute resolution tribunals.
The Global Regulators’ Exchange (G-REX) is ITU’s password-protected online discussion forum reserved for regulators and policy-makers. The virtual forum facilitates the exchange of best practices among fellow regulators.
Regional regulatory meetings, workshops and training events have been key in providing direct assistance in
regulation. Examples include the Telecommunication and ICT
regulation and Partnership Forum organized in 2008 under
the theme “Connect Africa: challenges for regulators and
operators”, and again in 2009 under the theme “Universal
Service/Access Fund”. Also, in 2009, seminars on cost and tariffs were organized in Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Americas,
alongside the Regional Tariff Group meetings for these three
regions, held under the auspices of Study Group 3 of ITU’s
Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU–T).
Meanwhile, the World Telecommunication Policy
Forum (WTPF-09) organized by ITU in Lisbon, Portugal, in
April 2009, examined the implications of convergence, including Internet-related public policy issues, and new emerging
telecommunications policy and regulatory issues. WTPF-09
adopted six opinions on: Internet-related public policy matters; the implications of the advent of next-generation networks and advanced broadband access; ICT and the environment; collaborative strategies for creating confidence and
security in the use of ICT; capacity building in support of the
adoption of IPv6 (or Internet protocol version 6); and the
International Telecommunication Regulations.
ITU assists its members to develop policies to ensure
ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities. In May
2009, ITU together with its partner G3ict launched an online
e-Accessibility toolkit to share best practices and to facilitate
the training of policy-makers and regulators in mainstreaming ICT accessibility issues to comply with the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In that
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ITU News  10 | 2010  December 2010
context, ITU has provided capacity building for the AsiaPacific region, the African countries, and the Commonwealth
of Independent States (CIS).
Negotiating tariffs or rates is a delicate matter, whether
for a new operator entering a liberalized market or for a regulator wishing to set affordable tariffs for national calls without compromising competitiveness among operators. The
COSITU model permits network operators, service providers,
regulators, and policy-makers to calculate costs, taxes related
to trade in international traffic, interconnection rates between
local and international operators, and tariffs for national and
international telephone services, for both fixed and mobile
telephones.
In the fast-changing ICT environment, pricing and costmodelling practices are central to the regulator’s role in
fostering a fair, competitive and healthy sector that ensures
affordable access to services and promotes investment incentives for all market players. It is therefore necessary to provide
the technical staff of regulatory authorities with sufficient
cost-modelling tools and knowledge to enable them to understand how to develop their own cost models or to adapt existing cost models to the changing environment. To respond to
this need, a two-week, high-level training on how to develop
cost models was provided to regulatory experts in Geneva in
2008, in addition to a two-day executive-level training event,
designed for heads of regulatory authorities, on the strategic
impact of cost models. Expert-level training sessions on cost
model development were held in 2009 and 2010 for African,
Arab, Caribbean, Asia-Pacific and Latin American countries.
Through a project funded by the European Commission,
ITU led an initiative to support an integrated ICT market in
West Africa. This resulted in the adoption of a harmonized ICT
legal framework, which is now being transposed into national
law by 15 West African States. Building on the success of the
West Africa project, ITU and the European Commission are
implementing new projects to harmonize ICT frameworks, and
to build human and institutional capacity in the field of policy
AFP
and regulation in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and the
Pacific Island countries.
Since 2008, a number of developing countries have benefited from direct assistance from ITU in regulatory reform,
costing, and creating an enabling environment for investment. These include Afghanistan, Albania, Bhutan, Burundi,
Central African Republic, Costa Rica, Equatorial Guinea,
Gabon, Gambia, Kiribati, Laos P.D.R., Paraguay, Papua New
Guinea, Sri Lanka, Swaziland and Thailand. A number of training sessions were carried out specifically for the Asia-Pacific
region, under the ITU Centre of Excellence Network initiative, to ensure that policy and regulation create an enabling
environment.
ITU has undertaken projects in the Asia-Pacific region with
partners such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the
National Telecommunications Commission of Thailand (NTC)
to create tools for rural ICT policy and regulatory development.
Responding to specific requests from Member States, ITU
is assisting countries in building national capacity and
improving awareness on Internet-related public policy
issues, including Internet governance. For example, ITU supports Member States in their assessment and management of
the country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) and the creation
of generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) in order to improve the
development of, and access to, ICT content and applications
for national or regional needs, in local languages.
ITU provided assistance, including technical assistance
and capacity building, to Somalia to finalize the re-delegation
process for its “.so” country code Top Level Domain. This will
allow the Government of Somalia to start making full use of
this critical Internet resource and to develop local content.
In the case of gTLDs, their development will offer new
opportunities and allow for innovation. In this regard, ITU has
assisted the Arab region, in coordination with the League of
Arab States, to establish the new “.ARAB gTLD”.
ITU also provides assistance to support Member States
with their migration to IPv6 to ensure that they can benefit
from equitable and fair access to this key Internet resource.
ITU has provided assistance to countries in the East African
Community (EAC) and South African Development Community
(SADC) on the creation of national Internet exchange points
(IXPs), and on achieving efficient and cost-effective regional
Internet connectivity.
On the radiocommunication front, ITU carries out studies and develops Recommendations on the broad aspects of
spectrum management. The improvement of the international
spectrum regulatory framework was considered during the
World Radiocommunication Conference in 2007. This conference decided to call for further studies on general allocation
and procedural issues of spectrum management. These studies are expected to provide flexibility to countries in accommodating converging services. New regulatory measures are also
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WSIS Action Line C6: Five years on
Enabling the ICT environment
Looking ahead
In today’s online world, access to broadband, and to
broadband-enabled services and applications, is critical,
not only to ensure economic growth but also to respond to
changing business practices and social behaviour sparked by
the rapid technological changes taking place in the industry.
These changes call for new regulatory models that:
 promote competition, innovation and growth;
 allow for different degrees of regulation (from heavy to
light touch) according to the different segments of the ICT
market;
 foster access to, and adoption of, next-generation networks, and access to broadband applications and services
for all.
Regulators need to take the time to examine how changes in technology are transforming society into a knowledgebased one, and what this means with regard to redefining
universal access and service. This is particularly important in
order to extend universal service beyond network deployment,
aiming at providing access to the digital world to all, based on
sustainable business models (especially in such areas as education, school connectivity, e-health, new media and content).
Regulators need not only to understand engineering and
to carry out complex economic and legal analysis, but also to
have the foresight to quickly recognize and adapt to shifting
technology paradigms. They need to be ready to question previous approaches in a fast-evolving market, while nevertheless applying consistent regulatory principles.
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ITU News  10 | 2010  December 2010
Regulators face the challenge of judging when market
failure requires regulation, and where regulation is no longer
required and can be removed. As the impact of regulation endures for many years after regulations are issued, regulators
face great responsibility to ensure that they maintain minds as
open as the Internet itself.
More than ever, ITU is committed — through a range of
targeted activities — to helping Member States strengthen
regulation and policy to support growth of the sector and ensure a level playing field.
In many ways, WSIS has catalysed implementation in
the area of creating an enabling environment. Considerable
progress has been made towards building a richer and
more inclusive information society, in which everyone can
participate.
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being studied in the run-up to the World Radiocommunication
Conference in 2012 and are expected, among other things, to
enable the introduction of software-defined radio and cognitive radio systems.