C ONVERGENCE AND ICT : A REGULATORY PERSPECTIVE

1. CONVERGENCE AND ICT: A REGULATORY PERSPECTIVE Orin Edghill Accountant Public Utilities Commission

2. What is Convergence? • Convergence refers to the ability of some devices and or infrastructure to offer multiple services from technologies which were in the past considered to be separate and distinct. • Convergence is essentially a process and not an outcome. • Convergence in reality is more than just a shift in technology; it is a change in the relationship that existed between industries, technologies, audiences and markets.

3. Types of Convergences • Functional • Technological • Economic • Geographical • Political

4. Functional Convergence • Functional convergence refers to the provision of multiple services. It is the coming together of broadcasting; telecommunication and computing, with a single channel of distribution. • Functional convergence is sometimes referred to as "multimedia," as it points to new, hybrid services that combine voice, data, text, and/or images. In simple terms the consumer receives/accesses a wide variety of functions and services via single screen.

5. Technological Convergence • Technological convergence is the tendency for different technological systems to evolve towards performing similar tasks. It emphasizes more the mode of transmission. • It refers to the way which previously separated technologies are increasingly converging into one. A single mode of transmission (via a coaxial or fibre optic cable) simultaneously transmits diverse information: voice, text, data, sound, image.

6. Technological Convergence in Action

7. Economic Convergence • Economic convergence refers to mergers, amalgamations, and diversifications, whereby media organizations come to operate across previously distinct industry boundaries. • Braman (1998) notes that economic convergence occurs when an industry becomes dominated by oligopoly.

8. Geographical Convergence • The convergence of telecommunications and information technology has also led to a geographical convergence. • This has led to theoretical conception of the world as a global village, where interactions and communication are no longer hindered by distance.

9. Political Convergence • Many countries around the world are now converging into blocs driven by practical economic and social concerns. This new globalization being touted as a “cure all” is an example of political convergence.

10. Convergence and the Regulator • Traditional regulatory framework was designed for an era where clear functional differences existed between services offered and the infrastructure delivering them. This framework is proving to be increasingly inadequate for today’s world. • The combination of services over the same platform has now become a challenge to regulators.

11. Should Convergence be Regulated? YES

12. Why Regulate Convergences? • Convergences facilitates the proliferation of Internet Cafes which in turns reduces the revenue available to the Service Providers. • Convergences create new services – services that will be offer to consumers. What is the quality of service? How do we measure its quality? Is it internationally accepted and approved?

13. Challenging areas for Regulators • Finding the best means to license and regulate providers • Interoperability and interconnection • Universal access and consumer protection • Emergent services • Classification of certain telecommunications services

14. Convergence and Guyana • Guyana is currently in the emerging phase of convergence. • Convergences are most prominent in the cellular industry and unregulated internet cafes (VOIP services) • GT&T has commissioned a new fibre- optic cable. The GOG also plans on laying another cable.

15. Growth of Cellular Phones in Guyana

16. Cellular Density

17. VOIP in Guyana • There are only nine (9) Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that purchase bandwidth from GT&T - subscriber base of 29,967( end of 2009). • Several other internet service providers exit but they do not purchase bandwidth from the regulated utility. • Unregulated Internet cafes are growing exponentially and this growth is partially facilitated by the lack of regulations.

18. Conclusion • The PUC in the past has taken a “hands-off” approach in dealing with the unregulated cafes. • However, this position has changed and policy regulators are now looking at trends and policies that should be implemented especially to curb the damaging effect that internet cafes are having.

19. Best Practices for Regulating Convergence • Deregulation - Because of the complexity of regulating emerging technologies, it was suggested that the market would regulate itself. • This was based on the classical capitalist economic theory that intervention by regulators would distort the market. This however proved to be too complex in practice and soon deregulation had become reregulation.

20. Best Practices for Regulating Convergence • Evolution or Revolution. Revolution assumes that an entirely new regulatory structure should be developed whereas evolution is based on enhancing the existing legislation. • Evolution seems to be winning the debate so far. One of the main reasons for this is the uncertainty that lies ahead.

21. THANK YOU! .