Singapore: Regulatory collaboration in support of the Smart Nation program

23.09.2020

Regulatory collaboration among sectoral regulators Singapore is one of the world’s fifth-generation (G5) regulatory champions with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) identifying the country as a digital leader with a mature ICT framework. Singapore has been able to transform the country’s industry and government institutions, harnessing technology and attaining the benefits of digitalization and cross-sector, collaborative regulation. Particularly, regarding collaboration, Singapore leads the ITU G5 benchmark, together with countries such as Botswana, Norway, and the United Kingdom (ITU 2020). Heading towards digital transformation As early as 1980, Singapore started its transformation towards digitalization with the recognition of ICTs as a…

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Emerging approaches of the digital regulator

21.09.2020

Australia’s Digital Platforms Inquiry As digitalization progresses, governments around the world are increasingly reviewing how digital services fit into their existing frameworks and whether new ones are necessary. From social media platforms to offering linear broadcasting content online, many governments are seeking to reimagine the sector. Thus, an increasing number of governments are asking which regulatory mechanisms should be used to affect digital services, whether new regulations should be created, and under which regulatory body do these services fall? Efforts to answer these questions are already underway in Australia, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. This section examines how Australia is…

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Regulatory independence: how to achieve it and how to maintain it

03.09.2020

When 69 Member Nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreed to open their markets to companies from other WTO Members in 1997 they also adopted a document that was unique in the annals of international trade negotiations – the Reference Paper on Regulatory Principles. The Reference Paper was negotiated based on an understanding of the nature of telecommunications markets – in particular that, even when opened to competition, it is essential that the market be regulated in order to allow new entrants to compete with entrenched incumbent operators (referred to in the Reference Paper as “major suppliers.”) One of…

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Emergency communications

28.08.2020

Introduction Telecommunications and information and communication technologies (telecom/ICTs) are critical for disaster management and risk reduction as they are used for monitoring the underlying hazards and delivering vital information to all stakeholders, including the most vulnerable societies at risk. The effective management of disaster risk depends on the level of preparedness and communication and information sharing across all levels of government, within communities, and between public and private organizations. In that sense, National Emergency Telecommunications Plans (NETPs) can articulate a strategy to enable and ensure communications availability during all four phases of disaster management: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. The…

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The work the ITU Standardization Sector (ITU-T) on artificial intelligence

28.08.2020

Artificial intelligence (AI) ITU works on the development and use of AI to ensure a sustainable future. To that end, it convenes intergovernmental and multi-stakeholder dialogues, develops international standards and frameworks, and helps in capacity building for the use of AI. AI and Machine Learning are gaining a larger share of the ITU standardization work programme in fields such as network orchestration and management, multimedia coding, service quality assessment, operational aspects of service provision and telecom management, cable networks, digital health, environmental efficiency, and autonomous driving. ITU organises the annual AI for Good Global Summit, which aims to connect innovators…

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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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