The final report from the World Dialogue on Regulation (WDR) 3rd research cycle has been released and can now be downloaded or ordered in hardcopy. Edited by Amy Mahan and William H. Melody, this most recent collection of the network’s research and case studies elaborates on inclusive and propoor strategies for extending network development.

Title: Diversifying Participation in Network Development: Case studies and research from WDR Research Cycle 3
Editors: Amy Mahan and William H. Melody
Document date: September 2007
Pages: 230

The book is divided into three sections. The first, entitled Affordability and Use, opens with a study on affordability – definitions, analysis and issues. This is followed by two demand side studies, the first focusing on mobile use by the poor; and the second assessing communication expenditures across four developing countries. The final chapter in this section reports on a survey of ICT use by SMEs in eight African countries.

Section 2, Models to Extend Participation in Network Development considers microfinance, smart subsidies, community owned microtelcos and the extension of research networks. The countries used to highlight these alternative approaches include Bangladesh, Nepal, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Ghana.

Section 3, Regulatory and Information Practices, begins with two chapters dedicated to the information provision and communication practices of regulators – which are important for cultivating informed participation in regulatory processes. Next regional regulation in support of national regulators and to ensure competitive markets is examined using the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States as a case study. Further perspective on this is provided by a chapter on multinational operators in African mobile markets. The section concludes with a case study on the regulatory environment in Guyana.

This report is the third in a series of research cycles that WDR is undertaking to assess different approaches to regulation in a rapidly changing telecom environment. With the advent of privatisation, competition, and converging infrastructure sectors, the role of the regulator is in a transitional phase. The first World Dialogue on Regulation research cycle assessed two emerging regulatory trends and the report, The Next Step in Telecom Reform: ICT Convergence Regulation or Multisector Utility Regulation; and the second cycle, Stimulating Investment in Network Development: Roles for Regulators – are both available for download and hardcopies of the second can be ordered from WDR.

Diversifying Participation in Network Development, A.K. Mahan and W.H. Melody (eds), Uruguay, 2007. ISBN (printed version): 978-9974-8067-0-2

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1. Introduction | William H. Melody
Section 1 – Affordability and Use
Chapter 2. Improving Affordability of Telecommunications: Cross-fertilisation between the developed and the developing world | Claire Milne
Chapter 3. Telecom Use on a Shoestring: Expenditure and perceptions of affordability amongst the financially constrained | Avanti Moonesinghe, Harsha de Silva, Neluka Silva & Ayoma Abeysuriya
Chapter 4. Variations in Expenditure on Communications in Developing Countries: A synthesis of the evidence from Albania, Mexico, Nepal and South Africa (2000-2003) | Sebastian Ureta
Chapter 5. ICT Usage and its Impact on Profitability of SMEs: A case of eight African countries | Steve Esselaar, Christoph Stork, Ali Ndiwalana & Mariama Deen-Swarray
Section 2 – Models to Extend Participation in Network Development
Chapter 6. An Investigation of the Replicability of a Microfinance Approach for Extending Telecom Access to Marginal Customers | Malathy Knight-John, Ayesha Zainudeen & Abu-Saeed Khan
Chapter 7. Smart Subsidies – Getting the Conditions Right: The experience of expanding rural telecoms in Nepal | Harsha de Silva & Ratna Kaji Tuladhar
Chapter 8. Microtelcos in Latin America and the Caribbean | Hernan Galperin & Bruce Girard
Chapter 9. Research and Education Network in Ghana: Promoting ICT in developing countries through research cooperation | Reza Tadayoni & Knud Erik Skouby
Section 3 – Regulatory and Information Practices
Chapter 10. Benchmarking National Telecom Regulatory Authority Websites of the Asia-Pacific Region | Chanuka Wattegama
Chapter 11. An Institutional and Practical Evaluation of URSEC – Uruguay’s Communication Regulator – and its Relationship with Citizens | Gustavo Gómez & Amy Mahan
Chapter 12. Regional Regulation of Telecom Markets in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States | Andrew Barendse
Chapter 13. Multinational Operators in African Mobile Markets | Ewan Sutherland
Chapter 14. Privatisation, Regulation and Investment: A case study of the telecom regulatory environment (TRE) and investment in Guyana | Samuel Braithwaite

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Diversifying Participation in Network Development