Executive Summary

• The Global Mobile Cellular Revolution
• Supplying Mobile
• Regulating Mobile
• Mobile Access
• Pricing Mobile
• A Mobile Future

These questions suggest that there is no simple answer to how many mobile operators should be allowed. Perhaps the safest course for regulators is to licence the maximum possible number of operators and let the market decide who the winners and losers will be. In any case, the upper limit is partly dictated by frequency limitations, although this problem can be alleviated if market mechanisms are used for spectrum allocation, for instance by providing an incentive for owners of earlier, analogue licences to migrate their user base towards digital systems.

Extending access to telecommunications is a commonly expressed desire of many countries. Yet most governments and regulators only have fixed telephony in mind when contemplating this issue and designing policies for achieving it. This is unfortunate since mobile cellular could do much to alleviate demand for telecommunications. Universal service and access requirements for mobile cellular revolve around three areas:

1. achieving widespread coverage;
2. ensuring that mobile operators contribute to universal service/access funds and can draw upon those funds;
3. mandating the installation of a certain number of public payphones.

The level of prices is also relevant since 100 per cent coverage is not of much use if most people cannot afford to use the service. The availability of a pre-paid service is also important since potential users are not excluded for reasons of credit unworthiness.

Promoting widespread coverage is the starting point for ensuring that mobile cellular contributes to universal access. While a small-island state such as Singapore can boast of 100 per cent population coverage, and most mobile networks in developed countries cover at least 95 per cent of the population, many developing nations are not so fortunate. Take South Africa for example, home to one of the world’s largest digital mobile networks. It has the best mobile coverage on the continent at 80 per cent of the population, but that still leaves some nine million people without service. Coverage in many other developing countries is far less and typically limited to major towns. Network roll-out targets including coverage requirements should be specified in licences. The award of national licences should be tied to achieving a high level of population coverage. Regulators might also want to provide mobile operators with expanded scope in return for enhancing coverage. For example, cellular licences might be made more lucrative by allowing operators to provide international service. Another consideration is that mobile coverage will be limited to areas where the fixed network exists unless cellular operators are allowed to provide their own backbones linking remote areas to urban ones. Tie-ups between cellular operators and global mobile satellite systems could also help to expand coverage in areas without terrestrial infrastructure.