SPECTRUM CLASH the COMPETING MOBILE AGENDA by Roland Beutler the IIC the IIC Year Is Punctuated with Stimulating Debates…
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SEPTEMBER 2015 | VOLUME 43 | ISSUE 3 REGULATION: A TIPPING POINT Brian Williamson discusses how OTT is focusing minds on transition in telecoms markets INTERNET OF THINGS Part one of a comprehensive briefing on the technical and regulatory issues, by Ian Brown EUROPE IN THE ROUND The major communications review in Europe puts global policy trade-offs in focus MEDIA LITERACY THE WORLD’S MOST INFLUENTIAL TELECOMS AND MEDIA POLICY, REGULATORY AFFAIRS AND COMPLIANCE JOURNAL Engaging children in the digital age SPECTRUM CLASH THE COMPETING MOBILE AGENDA By Roland Beutler The IIC The IIC year is punctuated with stimulating debates… PolICy dIsCussIon Themes for The IIC: £ £ £ InnovatIon and Investment Governance competItIon We explore sustainable investment The sharing economy, Internet Where are the modern monopolies? models, public private partnerships, Governance, children’s rights, Does the communications regulator broadband progress and multi- net neutrality and content regulation have a role in regulating them? sector, intelligent coordination. are core governance issues explored. The rise of content and media intermediaries as digital gate- keepers stimulates policy and regulatory debate. £ £ spectrum prIvacy, safety and securIty IIC discusses whether traditional IIC discussions explore ways to spectrum policy of direct and combine a respect for privacy whilst specific allocation is the right enabling government authorities to way to deal with inevitable protect national security interests. increased demand. Members get excellent rates to the fInd ouT abouT membershIP Today aT Annual Conference and free places at the International Regulators Forum and Telecommunications and Media Forums. IICom.org Key events In the year comInG up… October 2015 December 2015 March 2016 May 2016 Communications Policy Telecommunications Telecommunications Telecommunications and Regulation Week and Media Forum and Media Forum and Media Forum Washington DC Johannesburg Brussels Join the IIC community on LinkedIn. shaPIng The PublIC This is a closed group where discussion is PolICy agenda strictly confined to key policy issues SEPTEMBER 2015 | VOLUME 43 | ISSUE 3 contents crossroads of reform www.iicom.org The International Institute of Communications is the world’s leading independent, non-profit, This year is turning out to be one of the most membership forum engaged with digital eventful so far even in a sector that has a media policy and regulatory affairs. consistently high rate of change. On the IIC activities cover issues in telecommunications, broadcasting and the internet. regulatory front, the European Commission’s Intermedia editorial enquiries: electronic communications framework review [email protected] is raising a number of key policy trade-offs that will apply Intermedia subscription and anywhere (and see the article by Peter Alexiadis in this issue), IIC membership enquiries: Joanne Grimshaw, while national reviews in the UK, New Zealand and elsewhere [email protected] are also raising questions about what type of regulatory and IIC Intermedia © International Institute of competition regimes will deliver digital economy goals. With Communications and contributors 2015 networks in transition to over the top (OTT), the case may be Follow us: building for separation of applications and networks, and focusing communications regulation on the latter, as Brian @The_IIC Williamson discusses, and we also have contributions on the Watch speakers at IIC events on: need to consider economic goals and the idea of ‘industrial policy’, and to cross-fertilise with other network industries www.youtube.com/user/TheIICom Further content and details are available such as energy and transport. We are at a major junction on the IIC website: between old and new, I feel. Fabio Colasanti, president, IIC www.iicom.org 12 OTT on the m ArCh Are we reaching a tipping point in networks that needs regulatory change? Brian Williamson reckons so 16 medIA lIteracy mAtters Children need literacy for the digital age, says Aviva Silver 19 speCtrum AgendA The key issues for the upcoming radio conference 22 speCtrum ClAsh wIth broAdCAstIng 2 news Roland Beutler puts the case for maintaining spectrum for A round-up of global TMT news and events terrestrial broadcasting amid pressure from mobile 4 IIC events 27 Internet of thIngs The IIC’s TMF and regional regulator event in Miami Part one of a primer on IoT for policymakers 7 Comment 34 europeAn trAde-offs Jerry Power on regulation as an economic catalyst Policy issues in the big communications review 8 Q&A 1 39 facilItAtIon vs regulAtIon With Wilhelm Eschweiler of Germany’s BNetzA Is the time right for more industrial policy approaches? 10 Q&A 2 41 AsIA’s dIgItAl eConomy We talk to Deepak Jacob of India’s Star TV group Peter Lovelock rounds up digital economy initiatives www.iicom.org September 2015 Vol 43 Issue 3 | InterMEDIA 1 news from around the globe digital economy itu and oecd take stock Two reports released over the summer cover the building blocks and policies needed for the digital economy. The ITU’s Trends in Telecommunication Reform, an annual publication now in its 15th edition, is subtitled ‘Getting ready for the digital economy’ and looks at market and regulatory trends in the ICT sector, and ways to cut barriers to competition and promote broadband expansion. It also includes chapters on big data and the economic analysis of data, and ‘cross- cutting’ regulatory issues to ensure digital consumers are protected. The ITU has also developed an ICT ‘regulatory tracker’, a tool to help pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of regulatory interventions. Where cables land: a still from an impressive animation by Business Insider on submarine The OECD meanwhile has released the latest in its cables around the world, produced from TeleGeography’s Submarine Cable Map, a free resource biennial publication, Digital Economy Outlook – see that allows data to be downloaded. See bit.ly/1Uruqty and submarinecablemap.com page 44 for a review. communications reviews ofcom leads in review stakes new zealand This year is turning out to be pivotal in the review of communications comms and content frameworks, with the European Union review being the most prominent New Zealand has launched consultations on both on the international stage (see page 3), and other major decisions on communications and content regulation, one of elements such as net neutrality, by the US FCC, also attracting global several countries now undergoing major reviews. interest. UK regulator, Ofcom has embarked on one of the most far- The discussion paper ‘Regulating communications reaching national reviews of the entire communications model, and the for the future’ continues the government’s review organisation has also commissioned several studies that are of wide of the 2001 telecommunications act, and is one interest. In its ongoing strategic review, taking place ten years after the of the workstreams in a convergence work previous one, Ofcom is consulting on four main areas: programme. It proposes fundamental changes to l Investment and innovation – including examining how regulation regulatory structures and a possible move to a can enable the development of ultrafast broadband. Ofcom has already utility-style model. Also out for discussion is mandated that 4G broadband will reach 98% of UK premises. ‘Content regulation in a converged world’, which l Competition – this includes a possible big decision about the highlights content classification and standards, Openreach wholesale network operation, which is owned by BT. Complete inconsistencies in how election programmes are separation or deregulation to promote competition are mooted. treated, advertising restrictions, and supporting l Empowering customers – a review of information provision and better local content. See bit.ly/1JSa1pq options for switching services, including in mobile and TV bundles. l Targeted regulation and deregulation – the review “will identify where existing regulation may be simplified, removed or replaced. For example, australia the rise of over the top internet communications services, such as instant spectrum reform is ‘go’ messaging, may create a case for less regulation on mobile operators, or The Australian Communications and Media Authority for extending existing rules to internet-based services.” (ACMA) expects to move to a single and more Among research commissioned to inform debate, one that has attracted flexible approach to spectrum licencing following an attention is the dry-sounding ‘Traffic management detection methods announcement that the government will adopt all and tools’, which some commentators have hailed as a landmark report in 11 of the recommendations proposed in a spectrum the net neutrality debate (see separate news item on page 3). review by the Department of Communications. Another report carried out for Ofcom is an analysis of the drivers of The main elements of the review are to replace the superfast broadband, by WIG-Consult. It finds that “although some have current legislative framework with one that permits claimed that regulatory policies such as forbearance on access to next- timely allocations and greater flexibility (including generation networks may stimulate deployment, we did not find proof sharing and trading of spectrum); incorporates the that this was the case. Nor did we find at the other extreme that structural management of broadcasting spectrum and better separation necessarily provides better outcomes for consumers.