Asia Pacific telecom operators had a big party in Colombo this week. They were celebrating the 21 st anniversary of the global mobile standard, GSM. Despite a few puzzlingly sexist comments about the significance of the 21 st birthday to a “Young Girl” (as though it was not significant for a male) it was a good party. Anyway, the point is that it was not just fun and games. The conference that followed was a serious one.
The 2007 Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to Leonid Hurwicz, Eric Maskin, and Roger Myerson “for having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory”. But what on earth is “mechanism design theory”? Adam Smith’s classical metaphor of the invisible hand refers to how the market, under ideal conditions, ensures an efficient allocation of scarce resources. But in practice conditions are usually not ideal; for example, competition is not completely free, consumers are not perfectly informed and privately desirable production and consumption may generate social costs and benefits. Furthermore, many transactions do not take place in open markets but within firms, in bargaining between individuals or interest groups and under a host of other institutional arrangements.
Pro-Poor, Pro-Market ICT Policy and Regulation World Summit on the information Society, Matmata Room, Kram Centre Tunis, November 17, 2005, 9:00 – 16:45 LIRNE.NET and the World Dialogue on Regulation (WDR), LIRNEasia, Research ICT Africa (RIA), Diálogo regional sobre la sociedad de la información (DIRSI) Sponsored by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and The Information for Development Program of the World Bank (infoDev) 9:00-9:15 Welcome Randy Spence 9:15 – 10.15 ICT Demand, access and usage by the poor Chair: Heloise Emdon, IDRC Telecom Strategies on a Shoestring (Household Income Below USD 100/Month)(PDF download) (LIRNEasia) Ayesha Zainudeen, LIRNEasia team Digital Poverty in LAC (DIRSI) Roxana Barrantes Measuring ICT Access and Usage in Africa (RIA) Alison Gillwald, Christoph Stork 10:30-12:00 Core Networks and Policy Issues Chair: Olivier Nana Nzepa, RIA Having a Backbone; Making Best Use of What You’ve Got (LIRNEasia) Harsha Vardhana Singh, Rohan Samarajiva SADC Universities Connectivity Initiative (RIA) Lishan Adam Telecoms Funds & Regulatory Challenges (DIRSI) Hernan Galperin Universal Service Funds, Access Deficit Charges & Least-cost Subsidy Auctions (PDF download) (LIRNEasia) Harsha de Silva, Payal Malik African Regionalism, National Policy Formation and International Governance (RIA) Lishan Adam, Andrew Barendse 12:00 - 13:15 Extending Access Networks Chair: Ben Petrazzini […]
Pro-Poor Pro-Market Regulation Reform (PPPM) From IDRC’s website World Summit on the information Society, Kram Centre, Tunis, November 17, 2005 Conference Organisers: the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Information for Development Program of the World Bank (infoDev) LIRNE.NET and the World Dialogue on Regulation (WDR) LIRNEasia Research ICT Africa (RIA) Diálogo regional sobre la sociedad de la información (DIRSI) November 17, 2005 – Morning Program Time Activity 8:30-8:45 Welcome – Richard Fuchs 8:45-9:45 ICT Demand, access and usage by the poor Chair: Laurent Elder, IDRC ICT Uses on a Shoestring in Asia (LIRNEasia)- Ayesha Zainudeen Digital Poverty in LAC (DIRSI) – Roxana Barrantes Towards an African e-index (RIA) – Alison Gillwald, Christoph Stork Discussion 9:45-10:00 Coffee break 10:00-11:15 Core Networks and Policy Issues Chair: F F Tusubira, RIA Asia Backbone Study (LIRNEasia) – Rohan Samarajiva Telecoms Funds and Regulatory Challenges – Judith Mariscal South Asia ADCs, USFs and Subsidy Auctions (LIRNEasia) – Harsha da Silva African Regionalism, national policy formation and International Governance (RIA) – Andrew Barendse, Lishan Adam Discussion 11:15-12:45 Extending Access Networks Chair: Lishan Adam, RIA Grameen Phone Replicability (LIRNEasia) – Ayesha Zainudeen Indonesia WiFi Achievements and Replicability (LIRNEasia) – Divakar Goswami, Onno […]