Committed to Connecting the World
Regional Seminar on the Economic and Financial aspects of
Telecommunications Study Group 3 Regional Group for Latin
America and the Caribbean (SG3RG-LAC)
Asunción, Paraguay, 13-14 March 2012
Tariff Policies Trends
Carmen Prado-Wagner
Regulatory and Market Environment Division
IEE Department/Telecommunication Development Bureau
International Telecommunication Union
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Reaching the next billion
125 years to reach the first
billion of fixed (wired)
broadband subscriptions
Source: ITU World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database
30 years for
reaching 6 billion
mobile cellular
subscriptions
Only 9 years to reach the
first billion active mobilebroadband subscriptions
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5.9 billion
Mobile
cellular
subscriptions
in 2011*
2.4 billion
Internet
users in
2011*
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The Global situation of Broadband
4
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Availability of Mobile broadband, 2010
Source: ITU.
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Fixed Broadband Prices
drop by over 50% in just two years in developing countries
The ITU ICT Price Basket 1 shows that
between 2008 and 2010 ICT services
have become more affordable and
relative prices came down by an
average of 18%, globally.
Source: ITU Measuring the Information Society (2011)
1
The ITU ICT Price Basket is a composite measure based
on three tariff sets — fixed-telephone, mobile-cellular and
fixed-broadband Internet services — and computed as a
percentage of average GNI per capita.
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Internet is growing… but one third of the
population isn’t connected in 2011
Usuarios de Internet por cada 100 habitantes
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The bad news is that developing countries pay
more….
ICT price basket, 2008
ICT price basket, 2010
Developed countries
Developing countries
Source: ITU ICT Indicators database
Note About the IPB
ITU’s ICT Price Basket (IPB) is a composite affordability measure based on three sub-baskets – fixed
telephone, mobile cellular and fixed broadband Internet services – and computed as a percentage of
average Gross National Income (GNI) per capita. As a comprehensive benchmarking tool, the IPB monitors
the relative price of ICT services and provides an indication of how affordable services are across
countries, and over time.
www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/
www.itu.int/atlas
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What about costs and tariffs regulation…?
Regulators in charge of price regulation, 2011
37
34
number of countries
27
24
13
5
Africa
Europe
Americas
Asia-Pacific
Arab States
CIS
10
Source: ITU World Telecommunications/ICT Regulatory Database
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What about tariffs and price regulation…?
Who is responsible for price regulation?
World, 2011
Regulatory Authority
140
Sector Ministry
Not regulated
25
18
More than one entity or another body involved
14
Operator
13
Other Ministry or Government body
12
Americas, 2011
Regulatory Authority
27
Not regulated
5
More than one entity or another body involved
4
Operator
1
Sector Ministry
1
Other Ministry or Government body
0
11
Source: ITU World Telecommunications/ICT Regulatory Database
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How are the wholesale tariffs of services
regulated?
Wholesale Services - World, 2011
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Price ceiling set by the Cost orientation (using Benchmarking of tariffs Retail minus approach
State
cost models)
Africa
Source: ITU Tariff Policies Survey – ICTEye
Arab States
Asia & Pacific
Europe & CIS
Rate of return
regulation
The Americas
Price cap
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How are the wholesale tariffs of services
regulated?
Wholesale Services - Americas, 2011
Price cap
Rate of return regulation
Retail minus approach
Benchmarking of tariffs
Cost orientation (using cost models)
Price ceiling set by the State
0%
Source: ITU Tariff Policies Survey – ICTEye
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
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Type of cost on which cost
models are based
Retail services
America and Africa
are mostly using
current cost for retail
services
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
Wholesale services
30%
20%
10%
80%
0%
Africa
Arab States Asia & Pacific
Historical costs
Current costs
Europe
Other
Source: ITU Tariff Policies Database, www.itu.int/icteye
The Americas
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Africa
Arab States
Asia & Pacific
Historical costs
Current costs
Source: ITU Tariff Policies Database, www.itu.int/icteye
Europe
Other
The Americas
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Which concept is used as the basis for
calculating telecommunication service tariffs?
Retail telecommunication services
The
Americas
Europe &
CIS
Asia &
Pacific
Arab
States
Africa
0%
20%
40%
60%
LRIC
Source: ITU Tariff Policies Database, www.itu.int/icteye
80%
Wholesale telecommunication services
100%
FDC
The Americas
Europe & CIS
Asia & Pacific
Arab States
Africa
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
LRIC
50%
FDC
Source: ITU Tariff Policies Database, www.itu.int/icteye
60%
70%
80%
15
90%
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www.itu.int/icteye
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Join us at:
GSR12: Why regulate in a
global networked society?
When:
Where:
Who:
2-4 October 2012
Colombo, Sri Lanka
ITU & TRC Sri Lanka
www.itu.int/gsr12
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Broadband Universe – New ITU portal
www.itu.int/broadband
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ITU Reports
Trends in Telecommunication Reform 2010-2011: Enabling
Tomorrow’s digital world
Coming Soon!
Trends in Telecommunication Reform 2012 : Smart Regulation in a
broadband world (To be released in 2012)








Setting national broadband policies, strategies and plans
Open access regulation in the digital economy
Strategies for financing universal broadband access
The regulatory landscape for mobile banking
Broadband Enabled Innovation
Intellectual Property Rights in today’s digital economy
Confronting The Social Media Regulatory Challenge
e-Waste: whose responsibility?
www.itu.int/ITU-D/treg/publications/index.html
Broadband Thematic reports in 2011:



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
Regulation of global broadband satellite communications
Exploring the value and economic valuation of spectrum
Understanding the impact of broadband on national and
global economies
Regulating broadband services pricing
www.itu.int/ITU-D/finance/
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MUCHAS GRACIAS!
prado[at]itu.int
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