The conference will bring together industry representatives, ICT R&D and innovation analysts, and policy makers, coming from Europe, the USA and Asia.  Main purposes of the conference are to identify and debate trends in the changing global ICT and ICT R&D landscape, debate their impact on the EU ICT industry and consequences for research and innovation location and modes and also to discuss implications for ICT R&D and innovation policies in Europe.

India’s regulatory regime has been found to be the best for mobile phone tariffs but the 2G spectrum allocation controversy has pulled it down in a recent perception survey of seven nations conducted by telecom regulation and policy study firm Lirneasia.

“In India, the regulator does not regulate most of the prices where as in other countries, we surveyed, there are regulatory interventions,” Payal Malik, senior research fellow of Lirneasia told PTI.

India scored 3.9 for mobile phone tariffs on scale of 1 to 5. This was followed by Pakistan with score of 3.3 on the same scale.

Understandably, the Pakistan Daily Times highlighted Pakistan’s good performance.

According the LIRNEasia’s 2011 Telecom Regulatory Environment (TRE) survey, stakeholders in India, Pakistan and Indonesia have identified the telecom regulatory environments in their countries as improved since 2008, the last time the survey was carried out.   In contrast, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Philippines have seen the regulatory environments decline in effectiveness, while Thailandremains more-or-less the same.

The TRE Survey asks senior level stakeholders to evaluate the effectiveness of the telecom regulatory environment in the fixed, mobile and broadband subsectors along a Lickert scale of 1 to 5 (1 being highly ineffective and 5 being highly effective, with the mid-point of 3 being considered average performance).  Seven different dimensions of regulation (market entry, tariff regulation, interconnection, universal service, anti-competitive-practices, quality of service) are evaluated by the stakeholders.    This year, 349 responded participated in the 7 countries.

Within a country, scores for each of the dimensions reflect specific issues: for example, in India, the lowest score (of 2.3 out of 5) was received by the Access to Scarce Resources dimension in the mobile-sub-sector.  This is perhaps not surprising given the 2G scandals in India.  However, India did finally get around to allocating 3G spectrum in 2010, and did so by having its first ever spectrum auctions. Perhaps because of this, or because stakeholders believe that that the 2G scandal has finally paved way for transparency in allocation, the score of 2.3 this year is still an improvement, though marginal,  over the 2008 score of 2.2.   India’s USD 4 billion+ undisbursed Universal Service Fund and related policies are responsible for its biggest TRE score decline: the TRE for USO drops from 3.1 in 2008 to 2.4 this year.  In contrast, tariff regulation in the mobile sub-sector continues to be the top performer with a score of 3.9 out of 5.0, indicating stakeholder satisfaction at TRAI’s policy of forbearance which has enabled Indian consumers to enjoy extremely low prices thanks to competitive forces.

Pakistan saw an increased in almost all dimensions, with the exception of 3 (fixed market entry, mobile access to scarce resources and mobile interconnection) which showed minor declines.   In contrast, Bangladesh saw scores in all seven fixed-subsector dimensions decline, in some cases by as much as 1 point.  The scores are perhaps reflective of the issues related to the cancellation of several fixed licenses.  Overall only seven dimensions showed improvements in Bangladesh, and even these were marginal.   Thailand, whose overall performance is unchanged, has however seen significant declines in its Market Entry scores due the uncertainties caused by the concession contracts granted to the mobile operators and what their status would be when they expire starting next year.

Detailed analysis of the scores is available in the draft country reports for Pakistan, India, Thailand, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Bangladesh.

A comparative country analysis is also available online.

All reports and analysis is in draft form at present. We hope you will comment on the country reports and cross country comparisons so that we may improve our analysis.

The session aimed to provide a brief overview of recent activities of the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development, including a progress report on e-government indicators. It also looked at the emerging issues to be included in its work agenda to advance ICT measurement.

Payal  presented her research on ICT Statistics in India for Policy Analysis. This research was carried out by Orbicom, UQAM, Montreal and funded by IDRC.

Following an introduction by UNCTAD, the OECD presented progress made in its work on ICT sector statistics. The Network of UNESCO Chairs in Communication (Orbicom) presented the results of its research and training program entitled “Statistical Compilation of the ICT Sector and Policy Analysis” involving researchers and the statistical offices of five developing countries: Brazil, Cameroon, Egypt, India and Malaysia.

Participants were encouraged to engage in an active discussion with the panelists on the role of these statistics in policy making, and what lessons can be drawn with the aim to further develop the ICT sector in particular and national economies in general.

The conference gathered some 60 selected international experts and commission’s staff.

Click here to view presentation.

The event brings together a select group of government, academy and civil society representatives.

Click here to view presentation slides.

Hayat writes:

Pakistan introduced mobile cellular telephony early, in 1990. Although there was no clear spectrum management policy or roadmap available prior to 2004, the issuance of four mobile cellular licenses and the assignment of spectrum to those licensees were remarkably well thought out.

…In 2003, when action was taken to issue two more mobile cellular licenses, the need for a proper spectrum allocation mechanism and roadmap arose. At that time only 2×5 MHz of the 900 GSM band was unassigned and it was expected that the clear preference of the new entrants would be GSM

…The auction design for two mobile cellular licenses was not ideal but a number of steps were taken to find the winner as quickly as possible instead of focusing on maximising the initial fee…as a result of the regulatory principles, predictability, transparency and clarity of the Mobile Cellular Policy 2004, Pakistan managed to attract foreign investors to participate in the auction.

In contrast, in India, Malik reports that until 2003, all the licences awarded (including the bundled spectrum) had some crude form of market-based price discovery through auctions. However, with growing wireless subscribers increasing the demand for spectrum, it was decided to adopt subscriber-based spectrum allocation criteria as an interim measure, disregarding market-based pricing of spectrum.

Government issued orders on these lines on January 17, 2008, totally disregarding market-based pricing of spectrum. As a consequence and by Trai’s own admission “…several incumbent operators received spectrum beyond the contracted limits free of cost and benefited from the same over several years”.

…However, the most indefensible action of the government in this regard, documented in the press and debated in the Parliament, was not to auction licences in 2008. By allocating 2G spectrum to the licensees in January 2008 at an arbitrarily decided price of Rs 1,659 crore (the price paid by the fourth cellular operator way back in 2001). All principles of efficient allocation of this scarce resource were violated.

…However, there is one window of possibility of cleaning this pricing conundrum. Very soon, many licences will be coming up for renewal. Trai has been reiterating that the contracted spectrum is 6.2 MHz with respect to GSM and 5 MHz with respect to CDMA. The licensee applying for renewal should then be assigned spectrum up to the committed amount as per the current licence. Any additional spectrum that these licensees require to carry out their operations should be priced through a transparent auction.

Read the full articles here (Pakistan)and here (India).

However, there is one window of possibility of cleaning this pricing conundrum. Very soon, many licences will be coming up for renewal. Trai has been reiterating that the contracted spectrum is 6.2 MHz with respect to GSM and 5 MHz with respect to CDMA. The licensee applying for renewal should then be assigned spectrum up to the committed amount as per the current licence. Any additional spectrum that these licensees require to carry out their operations should be priced through a transparent auction.

Harsha De Silva speaking on ‘mPayments in Public Transport’. The session was chaired by Yaseen Anwar, Deputy Governor, State Bank of Pakistan

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Mobile 2.0 describes the next wave of applications and services – the use of mobiles for more than voice. On the 26^th and 27^th of April 2010, LIRNEasia together with the PTA co-hosted a successful expert forum in Islamabad, Pakistan. A multitude of themes were discussed over the four sessions, when the experts presented their research and cases to an audience that consisted of those representing regulators, mobile operators, government agencies and the media from nine countries of the Asia Pacific region.

Day 1: Opening Session

Welcome Speech I: Prof. Rohan Samarajiva, PhD, Chair and CEO, LIRNEasia

Welcome Speech II: Rashid Khan, CEO, Mobilink

Address by Chief Guest: Sardar Muhammad Latif Khan Khosa, Advisor to Prime Minister on IT

Day 2: Expert Forum

Session 1: Beyond voice (Easing payments, making markets efficient)

Chair: Yaseen Anwar, Deputy Governor, Banking Supervision and Corporate Services, State Bank of Pakistan

Sriganesh Lokanathan, LIRNEasia – Leveraging Mobile 2.0 for Agricultural Market Access [Policy Brief]

Harsha de Silva, PhD, LIRNEasia – mPayments in Public Transport: The case of bus tickets in Sri Lanka [Policy Brief]

Muriuki Mureithi, Summit Strategies, Kenya – mPayments experience in Kenya

Aamir Ibrahim, Chief Strategy Officer, Telenor Pakistan – Mobile 2.0: The telenor experience with EasyPaisa

Session 2: Beyond voice (mGovernment, mCommerce, mSocial Networking)

Chair: Syed Nasrul Karim Ghaznavi, Member (Finance), Pakistan Telecommunication Authority

Shazna Zuhyle, LIRNEasia (on behalf of Ayesha Zainudeen) – Mobile Markets: What works in emerging Asia? [Policy Brief]

Puree Sirasoontorn, LIRNEasia – BuzzCity [Policy Brief]

Prof. Rohan Samarajiva, PhD, LIRNEasia (on behalf of Prof. Subhash Bhatnagar) – eGovernance using mobile platform [Policy Brief]

Parvez Iftikar, CEO, Universal Service Fund – Telecom for all

Session 3: Conditions for Mobile 2.0 (Market entry)

Chair: Khawar Siddique Khokhar, PhD, Member (Technical), Pakistan Telecommunication Authority

Helani Galpaya & Payal Malik, LIRNEasia – Unleashing the potential of mobile 2.0 technologies through efficient spectrum management [Policy Brief]

Prof. Rohan Samarajiva, PhD, LIRNEasia – Mobile number portability [Policy Brief]

Muhammad Talib Dogar, Director General (Services), PTA (Pakistan’s experience with Mobile Number Portability) – Mobile number portability: Pakistan’s Experience

Session 4: Conditions for Mobile 2.0 (Quality of Service Experience)

Chair: Baburajan K., Executive Editor, Voice and Data

Chanuka Wattegama, LIRNEasia – User-centric Broadband Quality Monitoring Approach

Wasim Tauqir, Director General (Strategy & Development), PTA (Pakistan’s experience with Mobile Quality of Service) – Pakistan’s experience with Mobile Quality of Service

Panel Discussion: What Next?

Adnan Shahid, Director (Marketing) , Mobilink Pakistan

Adil Rauf, CEO, Alcatel Lucent, Pakistan

Wangay Dorji, Head- Telecommunications, Bhutan InfoComm and Media Authority

Grace Amberong, Information Technology Officer & Head of Government Portal and Website Development, CICT Philippines (Presentation)

Rohan Samarajiva, PhD, Chair & CEO LIRNEasia

Media Coverage:

Daily Times (Improvement of broadband penetration discussed)

The Hindu Business Line (Mobile 2.0 forum meet begins in Islamabad)

The Hindu Business Line (Pakistan plans big push for IT, rural telecom)

The Hindu Business Line (Connect to the Bottom of the Pyramid)

The Hindu Business Line (Pak ahead of India in use of Universal Service Funds)

The Hindu Business Line (Our telecom licensing is technology-neutral – Interview with Dr Mohommed Yaseen, Chairman, PTA)

Telecom News Bulletin (PTA and LIRNEasia jointly host International Telecom Expert Forum)

The Financial Express (Cell phone use yet to pick up in third world in absence of non-voice services)

The Sunday Times (Internet – unheard of, for many Lankans: Study)

Voice & Data (Pakistan to focus on flung areas for provision of broadband services)

Voice & Data (Telecom can strengthen our bonds in Pakistan)

Voice & Data (Pak Government is looking to expand in to non-voice)

State of Telecom Industry in Pakistan

Bangkok Post Tech (Mobile phones offer hope to ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’)

Bangkok Post Tech (Forum discusses ways to break cycle of poverty)

Bangkok Post Tech (India points the way)

In case licenses are not de-linked, there will be rollout obligations. Some analysts suggest penalties to be enforced, like taking away extra/unused bandwith for spectrum that is not used optimally. According to Kunal Bajaj, MD, BDA Connect, “Open auction will remove all these problems. Adequate spectrum will be allocated to the best player. However, there should be local benchmarks like existing players should get the first right of refusal.” According to Malik, “There should be no restriction on services as this inhibits competition. In fact, licenses should be given free, as they are meaningless without spectrum. After trading or auctions, those players who have enough spectrum should be allowed to use it the way they want.”

In this scenario, Tata Teleservices has suggested the formation of a spectrum pool, wherein players can pool their extra spectrum and trade it in a free and fair market. Furthermore, it is argued that currently a large chunk of the spectrum is being wasted as each operator requires start-up frequencies as well as guard frequencies to ensure that there is no interference between networks. “The concept of introducing a single radio frequency (RF) network based on the maximum available spectrum and controlled by an independent body will address this problem of scarce spectrum. It will provision the RF network in such a way that the complete spectrum is available to operators a on-required basis. This will resolve all the contentious issues related with spectrum, and provide an efficient RF network to all the existing as well as future service providers. This concept will drastically reduce the capital expenditure and operating expenditure of individual operators, and result in the most efficient use of the available spectrum,” it said on its official website.

Malik explains, “I am in favor of re-sale of spectrum. However, it depends on the micro market structure of pool for resale.” However, according to Satyen Gupta, “Whatever spectrum you can afford to put in a pool should be de-linked from license, as this procedure cannot work while being linked to a license.”

According to Payal Malik, sr research fellow, LIRNEasia, “It is difficult to verify whether the spectrum is actually being hoarded, but given the way allocation has taken place, I won’t be surprised if it is. In an effort to eliminate competition, the existing players inflate subscriber numbers. To add to this, the verification process is difficult and has to be done by Trai which has not done anything about this issue till date.” She adds, “Only 5-7 MHz on an average is the bandwith provided per operator, which is very little when compared to the 10-11 MHz allocated abroad. This in turn leads to fragmentation of spectrum.”

As a policy-oriented organization, we are indeed pleased that our research is being used to influence policy, not just in emerging Asia but in other regions as well.

LIRNEasia’s paper, “Diversifying Network Participation: Study of India’s Universal Service Instruments” can be downloaded here. More on the study can be found here.

Just five years ago, the Indian telecom industry=barely included the poor. The country had a teledensity of 7/100 people, but in rural India 100 people were served by only 1.5 phones. Even in urban India, the poor were unconnected. Now, the picture is different. Even though the rural-urbandivide remains, with rural teledensity of 13% lagging far behind urban teledensity of 81%,massive progress has been achieved.

A 2008 study of teleuse among BOP households by LIRNEasia, yields some intriguing answers. Because the data comes directly from end-users, it captures aspects not picked up by the usual supply-side data. The study represents 429 million Indians belonging to socioeconomic classifications Dand E between ages 15 and 60. Among the BOP, 86% had made or received a call in the past three months.The access challenge has been more or less met.

Over seventy key experts of the telecom industry participated at the event, with aim of understanding and sharing the key challenges in the Indian policy and regulatory environment and the solutions available. Delivering the keynote address, RN Prabhakar, member, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India explained the challenges faced by a regulator during the course of development.

The event saw the release of the TRE survey, jointly presented by Rohan Samarajiva and Payal Malik. A panel discussion on ‘Challenging Policy and Regulatory Environment,’ was also held. 

The full article is available here.

Most recently, I discussed the harm caused by taxing poor people to purportedly serve poor people and then keeping the money unspent at a UNCTAD meeting on trade and regulation. In a recent newspaper article, Payal Malik was quoted as recommending the closure of the universal service fund, which is another way of saying the levy should be brought down to 0.

It appears that our work is having an impact. The first step, a cut in the rate, is in the works. It has been held back by a pernicious rider that would unduly benefit BSNL, but we are optimistic that the reduction will be effected.

In October last year, the Department of Telecom (DoT) had announced a cut in the fee contributed towards Universal Service Obligation Fund, a subsidy given to telcos to offer services in rural areas, to three per cent from five per cent now and had been kept in abeyance till further order.

Full article is here.