Regulatory aspects of broadband deployment in developing countries

1
Regulatory aspects of broadband deployment in
developing countries

• M. Suwarso
• Jakarta, Indonesia

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Outline

• What is broadband ?
• Dilemma of developing countries
• Opportunities to ease the dilemma
• Role of prevailing regulation in easing the
  dilemma
• Regulatory reform

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What is broadband?

• Broadband is a moving target
• Anyhow it is a great deal faster than present
  network capability
• Driving forces behind its materialization
• dramatic progress in
• data coding and compression technique
• capabilities of microprocessor
• medium
• copper, fiber, wireless and satellite
• technology
• DSL, FTTH, Wifi, IMT-2000

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Outline

• What is broadband ?
• Dilemma of developing countries
• Opportunities to ease the dilemma
• Role of prevailing regulation in easing the
  dilemma
• Regulatory reform

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Dilemma of developing countries

• Voice among developing countries about deployment
  of broadband
• broadband is still a luxury affordable only in
  rich countries
• for the time being concentrate on rolling out of
  basic services
• to leapfrog directly to broadband is neither
  realistic nor make sense
• Present state of telecom in developing countries
• may justify pessimism
• But realities may dictate developing countries
  to
• provide basic service to deal with USO and
  digital divide, and at the same time
• deploy broadband to maintain competitiveness in
  global economy
• Mission impossible!

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Outline
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Opportunities to ease the dilemma
(1/2)

• Mission seems not so impossible
• Deploy leading edge but obtainable technology,
  like IMT-2000 FWA
• Take advantage from FMC (Fixed Wireless
  Convergence)
• Teledensity of fixed telecommunications in
  developing countries
• Notoriously low
• roll out of copper-based access network needs
  huge upfront investment
• installation cumbersome and awfully slow
• A number developing countries start to deploy
  IMT-2000 FWA
• Fast to install and cost-effective in investment
  / operation
• Coverage faster to extend to meet digital divide
• Has high speed capability for providing
  broadband services

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Opportunities to ease the dilemma
(2/2)

• Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC)
• Enable IMT-2000 mobile user to roam into fixed
  networks where
• the fixed network utilizes IMT-2000 FWA and,
• equipped with FMP (Fixed Mobility Plane)
• According to ITU-T Rec.1761 on The principles
  and Requirements for Convergence of Fixed and
  existing IMT-2000 Systems
• to provide FMP to existing fixed network would
  be within the technological and financial
  capacity of developing countries.
• Deployment of IMT-2000 system could initially
• Take place in small pockets
• IMT-2000 mobile users could access 3G services
  through FMP-provided fixed network that utilizes
  IMT-2000 FWA even if it is outside the 3G service
  area

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Outline

• What is broadband ?
• Dilemma of developing countries
• Opportunities to ease the dilemma
• Role of prevailing regulation in easing the
  dilemma
• Regulatory reform

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Role of prevailing regulations in easing the
dilemma

• Mobility of fixed network with IMT-2000 FWA and
  exploitation of FMC create opportunities as well
  as challenges
• Challenges are mainly to existing regulation,
  where
• fixed and mobile services are considered distinct
  and regulated differently and
• FMC is blurring distinction between fixed and
  mobile services
• Regulatory response to the challenge
• Stick to existing regulation and prohibit
• mobility provided by IMT-2000 FWA
• roaming between mobile and fixed network as
  enabled by FMC
• Modify existing regulatory framework to
  facilitate implementation of
• implementation of FMC
• mobility as provided by IMT-2000 FWA

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Outline

• What is broadband ?
• Dilemma of developing countries
• Opportunities to ease the dilemma
• Role of prevailing regulation in easing the
  dilemma
• Regulatory reform

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Regulatory reform

• Number of regulators who adopt the latter option
  is growing, as an example
• India introduces Unified Licensing Regime in 2003
• European Union adopted New Regulatory Framework
  in 2002
• As rationale for the regulatory reform
• Convergence blurs distinction between different
  networks
• Authorization system covering comparable services
  in similar way regardless of the technologies
  used is required

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• Thank You So Much!