ICT Regulation Toolkit
Module 4 - Universal Access Module
& regulatory policies on universal access to broadband
8 September 2008, ITU-D Study Group 1, Geneva
Andrew Dymond
Objective of presentation
1. Introduce ICT Regulation Toolkit Module 4 – Universal Access
& Service (UAS)
2. Latest trends in UAS, particularly related to broadband
services
3. Role of Universal Access and Service Funds (UASFs) and
other financial tools
4. Towards regulatory tools & strategies promoting access to
broadband services
ICT Regulation Toolkit: Module 4 – Universal Access & Service
http://www.ictregulationtoolkit.org
Now ready & accessible for general use
 Overview of the UA concepts, regulation of UAS, approaches
to policy, programme design and funding
 Practice Notes with case examples
 Online Reference documents
Will be reviewed & revised within the first year
Topics covered
1. Universal Access: An overview
2. Regulatory reform & UAS
3. Overview of approaches to UAS
4. UAS Policy
5. Financing UAS
6. UAS Programme Development & Prioritization
7. Competing for UAS Subsidies
8. Technologies for UAS
Section highlights
Chapter 1 – Universal Access: An Overview
1.1 Concepts of universal access
• Definitions & objectives
1.2 Current status of universal access & service
by regions
• Telephony & Internet indicators, modes of access, etc.
1.3 Rationale for a universal access policy
• Socio-economics, drivers, market gaps
1.4 Changing contexts & trends for UAS policy
• From monopoly tools to UASFs
1.5 International developments
• WSIS & Millennium Development Goals
1.6 Integration with other national programmes
• Education, e-Government, Electricity & e-Banking / m-Banking
What are the UAS trends?
Direction towards broadband …. form of policy still emerging
 Telephony coverage  US
• Due to mobile development, the world is getting covered
• Coverage is both commercially and socially essential - for users & operators
• UA is a market, US becoming realistic target in many areas
• Tariff, low cost handsets and user innovation enables near-US
 UA now defined to include ICT
• Internet at good speed must be part of the strategy
• Educational & Community/public access to Internet & ICT is essential
• e-Governance and related programmes essential as demand builders
 Broadband access & backbone now a focus
• Demand and Supply are both important
• Increasing number of countries with broadband policies
• ICT and Broadband Policy and UAS hand-in-hand
• Strategies – incl. pricing, open access, shared infrastructure, special projects
Chapter 2 – Regulatory Reform and UAS
2.1 Reform first
• Many regulatory tools can/should precede or accompany UAS policy
• Liberalization, technology “openness”, license reform
• Spectrum allocation reform
• New look at interconnection & tariffs
• Remove monopoly obligations
• Timing of UAS policy key
2.2 Impact & importance of competition on UA
• Coverage, service & markets
2.3 The UA market and how operators are addressing it
• Sources of revenue & low ARPU strategies – broadband will follow
2.4 Regulatory measures to improve UAS
• License design & incentives, spectrum & tariffs to promote UAS
2.5 Enabling regulation for broadband
• Market liberalization & unbundling, gateways & national peering
• Liberalization of convergence services
Key lessons
 Liberalisation & de-regulation have shown the way
 Don’t try using tools of liberalisation, such as UASFs, in a
non-liberalised market
 Competitive market can outpace UAS policy and
administrative structures
 Focus UAS measures on where really needed & at the right
time
 Don’t burden industry unnecessarily but create incentive,
motivation and collaboration
 Even broadband will shape up as a competitively driven
movement – should not necessarily be “solution driven”
Chapter 3 – Approaches to UA and US
3.1 Traditional incumbent obligations
• The tools of monopoly era reviewed
3.2 Competing for subsidies from UAS Funds
• First generation (Latin American) & second generation (African & Asian) Funds
• The advantages of UASFs
3.3 Non-central government actors in UAS
• Village phone, municipal networks, Public access telecentres & cyber cafés
3.4 Open access, shared access & ICT backbones
• The many ways to tap into or develop existing or new national backbones as
enabler of UAS
3.5 Other approaches and initiatives promoting UAS
• Rural cooperatives , small operators, community radio
UASFs – their role & track record
Mixed experience, even though the trend is strong
Key principles & elements of best practice UASFs:
 Competitive tendering - Output based aid (OBA)
 Technology neutral, transparent, impartial & fair
 UASF programmes developed with industry & stakeholder
consultation
 Focus on ongoing sustainability
 Independent of Government, audited & publicly reported
 Moving into broadband – UASFs can have an important role
• Broadband more costly and less sustainable than telephony but
most funds have difficulty distributing even 1% of sector revenues
UASF good examples
 Uganda’s Rural Communications Development Fund (RCDF)
• Country covered by mobile signal, public access phones
• Pioneer towards broadband – all districts have Internet POPs
• Assistance to schools, public Internet cafes & ICT training
 Chile Telecoms Development Fund (TDF) & Peru’s FITEL
• Telephony success has evolved into ICT targets & broadband
• Two installations of fibre-optic networks in the south of Chile
 Pakistan’s Universal Service Fund (USF)
• Country-wide mobile telephony and broadband access programmes
• 42% of operator levies distributed or committed by 2008
 Mongolia’s Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF)
• Wireless voice service for all 330 rural districts
• Broadband Internet POPs and public access Internet centres under
implementation
What role can UASFs play in broadband access?
 Some UASFs now financing backbone & broadband
• Chilean fund has financed two backbone extensions & being
re-focused under new Information Society Access Policy
• Sri Lanka, India & others moving in broadband direction
 Fund broadband access pilots & roll-outs
• Competitive tendering for technology neutral solutions
• Test uncertainties, e.g. demand in rural areas, alternative
open access solutions
 Mandate infrastructure sharing natural to subsidies
• Winning bidders required to build capacity and offer leased
lines at commercial rates (e.g., Nigeria, Mongolia)
Chapter 4 – UAS Policy
4.1 Universal access & service policy framework
• Scope, relationship to National Broadband Policy, separate or
integrated, institutional framework, basic policy structure
4.2 Universal access & service policy development
• Sector review & Market Analysis
• Policy formulation
• Priority of regulatory measures
• Financial analysis – what is affordable?
• Economic appraisal of policy options
• Consultation
4.3 Legal modifications and regulations
• Amendments & detailed regulations
Relationship of UAS to Broadband
UAS policy
Regional access,
spread and
growth of
Internet services
creates demand
for
broadband
Internet
services
Broadband policy
Demand stimulation
& supply strategy
e-government
projects
Broadband
facilities
Converging into one policy?
price reduction
measures
create investment &
more opportunity
for economic delivery
Chapter 5 – Financial UAS
5.1 General trends in ICT development & UAS finance
• The range of financial instruments available – from regulatory reform
and UASFs to targeted fiscal measures, demand support & capacity
building through e-Governance, sector budgets, etc.
5.2 Universal Access and Service Funds
• Sources of funds, industry levy principles, appropriate level
5.3 Institutional issues: managing & organizing a UASF
• Targeting commercial viability
• Managing the UASF
• Avoiding pitfalls
• Evaluation & reappraisal of UASF programmes
• NGN and the future of UASFs
5.4 Other approaches to UAS funding
• Primarily consideration of PPP issues
Chapter 6 – Programme Development
& Prioritization
6.1 ICT Sector Analysis and Assessing Demand
• Sector Review, household expenditures, incoming revenue,
Internet, field demand surveys
6.2 Modeling costs, viability & subsidy analysis
• Fundamental estimation of the financial gaps to attract
investment
6.3 Economic impact of UAS projects
• Telephony
• Broadband ICT impact analysis – New work emerging
6.4 Prioritization of UAS projects
• Qualitative, quantitative, financial ranking based on subsidy
requirement, subsidy cost per beneficiary
Chapter 7 – Competing for UAS Subsidies
A “how to” on UASF tender design & management
7.1 Design of the UAS bidding strategy
• UAS competitor eligibility
• The competition bidding lots
• The bidding process & documentation
• Large & small project processes
7.2 Bidding & subsidy distribution process
• Publicizing tenders
• Bidder meetings
• Bid evaluation & award
7.3 Inspection, payment, monitoring & evaluation
• Technical audit, reporting
• Review & evaluation
Chapter 8 – Technologies for UAS
8.1 Technology and service neutrality
• Context of current trends and the limits of neutrality
8.2 Technology choices
• Review of the main options
8.3 Broadband & the implications of using IP
• NGNs
• Contribution to UASFs
• Issues related to substitution for voice and broadcasting
• Content issues
8.4 Terminals
• Phones, PDAs & computers
8.5 Relationship with the environment
• Re-use, recycling, alternative power sources
• The contribution of ICTs
Should policy dictate technology?
Broadband motivation is causing policy makers
& regulators to focus on fibre & WiMAX
Suggest operators still the best ones to decide
• Role of regulation is to provide vision & incentives
• Competitive approach to finance & ownership model
Don’t discount the role of the competitive
market
• Mobile operators ready for the challenge
• Open access as a tool to leverage the commercial sector’s
energy
Thank you
adymond@inteleconresearch.com
www.inteleconresearch.com