The impact of policies, regulation, and institutions on ICT sector performance

25.08.2020

Introduction The current crisis has brought new challenges to the ICT sector. Regulatory frameworks need to be adjusted to stimulate investment while maintaining a moderate level of competition. Markets and consumer benefits are now examined by decision-makers through the lens of financial adversity and uncertain outlooks. Amid disruption, policy-makers and regulators need evidence-based guidance that provides a solid ground for their reforms. A new ITU study has used econometric modelling to examine the impact of the regulatory and institutional frameworks on the performance of the ICT (Information Communication Technologies) sector and its contribution to the national economy as a whole.…

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Innovative approaches to sector regulation

24.08.2020

Innovative spectrum use rules Simply applying existing – and potentially outdated – regulation to new digital technologies and services risks stifling innovation. To better keep pace with technological developments, policy-makers are examining different measures to provide clear, flexible, and objectively applied rules that avoid hampering progress. Among the increasing trends toward light-touch and experimental regulatory models are innovative ways to use spectrum, license new technologies, and facilitate universal access. As new wireless technologies enter the field with existing services, there is an ever-increasing demand for spectrum, including for commercial 5G, satellite services, and fixed wireless, as well as increased spectrum…

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Consumer affairs in general

19.08.2020

Basic consumer rights The concept of consumer rights has been with us since humans began bartering goods and services over 150,000 years ago. Based on widespread notions of fairness in trading, human societies have agreed, for example, that a kilogram weight should in fact weigh 1000 and not 900 grams, that products should be truthfully described and be fit for purpose (e.g. flour should not contain chalk powder), and that promises to sell at a certain price should be kept. The development of consumer rights as now understood, however, started only in the twentieth century. More choice of household goods…

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Technical regulation – Quality of service

13.08.2020

Introduction What is quality of service? People everywhere depend on ICT services. Unless these services are good enough, people need face-to-face contact in order to hold conversations, send and receive messages, obtain news, transfer money, play games, monitor and control machines, take part in markets, meetings, lessons, and entertainment, and so on. The range of services continues to grow. What “good enough” means depends on many factors, such as user feelings and expectations, which themselves vary with applications and environments. To be good enough, services usually have to be not annoying, even if they are not delightful. In the words…

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Technical regulation: Numbering, naming, addressing, and identification (NNAI)

13.08.2020

Why do numbering, naming, and addressing matter? Telephone numbers were devised well over a century ago to provide a way of identifying destinations of telephone calls uniquely. They then became used to identify sources of telephone calls, in calling line identification (CLI). They could contain information about tariffs and value-added contents. They are now used much more generally as unique identifiers, in money transfers, over-the-top (OTT) messages, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and so on. In effect “destination” has been expanded to refer to people and things generally. The rotary dials originally used to input numbers have long since disappeared…

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Related resources

10.06.2020

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Related resources

29.05.2020

Regulatory databases World Bank body of knowledge on infrastructure regulationWorld Bank global indicators of regulatory governanceITU ICT Regulatory TrackerITU ICT Eye Publications

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Case studies

26.04.2020

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