Transcript ICT SECTOR- Socio-Economic Development

DR. Chiranjibi Nepal
How ICT are revolutionizing?
 Interconnectivity thru ICT “global village”
 ICTs have demystified the essence of location &
distance
 Completely new societies & social relationship
 ICTs playing key role in International diplomacy
 Key driver to socio-economic transformation
 ICT has triggered the entrance of non- state actors in
the international arena
 Empowerment of unrepresented group that have
found a space to channel their demands
 Giving people and civil social group a common
narrative for social change- not homogenous but
common
 Redistribution of power among states, markets, civil
society and supra-national organization (WTO,
SAFTA, EU, NAFTA etc )
 ICT become crucial components for economic growth
and competiveness.
ICT and Economic Growth
 Leveraging on ICT has helped many resource- poor
countries to build competitive economies (S. Korea,
Singapore, Mauritius etc )
 ITC can help developing economies to leapfrog stages
of development
 Research has showed a strong positive relationship
between investment in ICT and growth in GDP
Role of Regulators
Role of Regulators
Fundamental issues of regulators:
 Independence
 Accountability
 Expertise
Main objectives of Independent
Regulators
 Protecting user interests and considering user
complaints
 Supervising the dominant operator to prevent them
from anti –competitive behavior
 Moving towards a level playing field for fair,
competition, in deregulated/ liberalized tele-com
industry/ market
 Stimulating innovation and / or implementation for
ITC technologies suitable to the countries concerned
 Assuring technical preconditions for effective
operation
 Managing common resources such as radio& Spectrum
and numbers
 Stimulating investment in the public
network/infrastructure
Fundamentals issues for regulators
 How to maintain its independence& autonomy?
 How to finance its setting up and operational costs?
 How to appoint or select its head or Chair?
 How legislate its structure and function?
 How to ensure effective regulation for public interests
and industry
What independence and autonomy
from?
 Day to day implementation of policies decided by the
relevant ministry
 Day to day operation
 Decisions independent from interest parties or group
Prerequisites for Independence
 Accountability
 Trained staff, expertise
 Clear legal mandate
 Transparency
 Public hearings
 Established mechanisms to avoid capture from the
industry’s stakeholders
What to regulate ?
 Licensing
 Pricing
 Quality of services
 Ensuring interconnection
 Managing radio spectrum
 Ensuring competition
 Access to ensure universal service
What are the challenges for
regulators
 Fast changing ICT environment
 To satisfy the rising expectation
 To deal with issues of different nature ( constraints of
expertise, budgets, resources)
 To face symmetry of the relevant information in
privatized and liberalized ICT environment
Thank You