The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) launched a proceeding to gain a better understanding of broadcasting in the new media environment. The proceeding will include a public hearing starting on February 17, 2009, in Gatineau, Que. In 1999, the Commission exempted from regulation services that distribute broadcasting content over the Internet. In 2007, it also exempted broadcasting services that are received through cellphones and other mobile devices. Today, high-speed Internet access has been adopted by most Canadians, new technologies and applications are offering high-quality broadcasting content, and Canadians are spending more time accessing this type of content over the Internet and mobile devices. With this proceeding, the Commission wishes to further examine the role of broadcasting in the current new media environment, and what role this environment can be expected to play in the Canadian broadcasting system in the future.See Press Release and documents

Source: CRTC

Ofcom  published a consultation reviewing the 070 personal numbering range including proposals to support current enforcement action being carried out by PhonepayPlus in relation to scams on the 070 range and requiring communications providers to publish their tariffs for calls to 070 numbers more prominently and make them easier for consumers to understand.
 
The consultation can be found here.
Source: OFCOM
 

The Australian Communications and Media Authority is proposing to permit the possession and installation of in-flight mobile phone systems by Australian airlines for domestic and international services.

'Australia led the world when it trialled in-flight GSM mobile phone services in 2007,’ said Chris Chapman, ACMA Chairman. ‘There is growing recognition by regulators worldwide that in-flight mobile phone services can be deployed without interference to existing telecommunications services.’

See Press Release
Source: Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA)

La Comisión de Regulación de Telecomunicaciones (CRT) presenta al sector la propuesta regulatoria de modificación del artículo 65 de la Resolución 1732 de 2007, relativo a las reglas para el envío de SMS y MMS. Asimismo se publica el documento soporte que acompaña la propuesta contemplada en el proyecto de resolución. Se convoca la participación de operadores, entidades, usuarios y público en general dentro del proyecto.

See Press Release
Source: Comisión de Regulación de Telecomunicaciones (CRT), Colombia

The banking fraternity is crying foul over what it described as unfair and increasing competition from money transfer operators.

The industry says the operators are enjoying privileges similar to those extended to deposit taking institutions despite not being covered by the same regulatory regime.

"Currently, there is no legal framework within which these entities provide their services despite behaving like current account institutions," says John Wanyela, executive director of the Kenya Bankers Association. "If these operators want to join the financial sector, they have to be properly licensed."

See Press Release
Source: allAfrica.com

In today’s Europe, citizens are free to work in and re-locate to any EU Member State and companies carry out business across the EU. When doing so, they need to communicate with administrations of other Member States. Member States in turn need to communicate with each other to serve the citizens and businesses in the best possible way. To avoid the creation of electronic barriers (e-barriers) between European administrations, the Member States and the Commission need to strengthen their efforts to ensure barrier-free communication within the internal market. In response to the need for coordination and cooperation at EU level, the ISA programme proposes to establish and promote commonly agreed solutions to avoid e-barriers at national borders. Over the period 2010-2015, the ISA programme aims to support and promote cooperation between European public administrations. ISA focuses on providing cross-border solutions for public administrations by making available common frameworks, common services and generic tools and promoting reuse as well as exchange of experience and good practices.

ISA is the follow-on programme to the IDABC programme (interoperable delivery of pan-European e-government services to administrations, businesses and citizens) which comes to an end in December 2009. The IDABC programme was itself launched in January 2005 as the successor of the IDA programme “interchange of data between administrations”. The ISA programme will be based on the achievements of the IDA and IDABC programmes and will, as its predecessors, contribute to the further development and implementation of the European e-government strategy.

See Press release

Source: Europa

According to Balancing Act, the government of Mauritius is establishing a Universal Service Fund (USF) to give citizens in poor regions of the country better access to Internet and communication technologies. Regulations under the Information Communication Technology (ICT) Act of 2001 have been finalized. The fund should come into operation in several weeks time. Operators will contribute to the fund US$2.5 million. With the fund, the authority intends to help public institutions work together to reduce the cost of Internet access and promote broadband Internet in Mauritius.

Source: Balancing Act

TRAI’s Regulation on Unsolicited Commercial Call completes one year of effective operation. 100 million telephone numbers cross checked by Telemarketers with NDNC before calling on 25th September 2008.

The National Do Not Call Registry (NDNC) is a data base of telephone numbers of those subscribers who do not want to receive Unsolicited Commercial Calls. It was set up under the “Telecom Unsolicited Commercial Communications Regulations, 2007” issued by TRAI and has come into operation w.e.f 12th October 2007. All the registered telemarketers before making marketing calls are required to submit / upload the list of telephone numbers which they want to call for telemarketing purpose to the NDNC. The NDNC takes out (delete) the telephone number of subscribers who are already registered with NDNC from this list and returns the clean list to the telemarketer for calling. Presently, there are 19,163 telemarketers registered with Department of Telecommunications.

See Press Release
Source: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)

La Comisión del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones (CMT) ha aprobado una propuesta de regulación para los servicios mayoristas de banda ancha y las redes físicas de telecomunicaciones, que incluyen la red de cobre y los despliegues de fibra óptica o redes de nueva generación. Esta propuesta será enviada a Bruselas, la Comisión Nacional de Competencia, el Gobierno y al conjunto del sector, que tendrán un mes para presentar comentarios y alegaciones antes de que la CMT tenga lista la regulación definitiva, prevista para diciembre de 2008.

See Press Release
Source: Comisión del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones (CMT)

New technology applications will need ubiquitous Internet coverage. The Internet of Things means that wireless interaction between machines, vehicles, appliances, sensors and many other devices will take place using the Internet. It already makes electronic travel cards possible, and will allow mobile devices to exchange information to pay for things or get information from billboards. It is predicted that such technology will be in more than one billion phones by 2015.

The Commission Communication adopted today said that the EU should stimulate investment in next generation broadband access, for example strengthening the involvement of local authorities who may facilitate the access to ducts (or digging of new ones) for faster broadband fibre cables during civil works, keep the Internet open to competition, prevent unfair restrictions in consumers' choice, safeguard consumer confidence in using the Internet and fund research in the Internet of the future. The Communication is accompanied by a new Broadband Performance Index that compares competition, coverage, speed and quality of Internet access across Europe. The index shows that Sweden and the Netherlands are clear leaders in the EU, thanks to a competition-friendly environment and skilled citizens and businesses that can use advanced services.

See Commission Communication on Future networks and the Internet 

See public consultation on the Internet of Things

Source: Europa

Los presidentes de los organismos reguladores de América Latina eligieron al Organismo Supervisor de la Inversión Privada en Telecomunicaciones (OSIPTEL), para que lidere en el año 2010 a las entidades regulatorias de América Latina que están agrupadas en Regulatel.

Por otro lado, el OSIPTEL y los miembros de Regulatel se han propuesto reducir las tarifas del roaming internacional entre los países de América del Sur, la cual permitirá que el público que viaje al interior de nuestros países lleve su equipo móvil y realice sus llamadas a un precio mucho más bajo del que se paga actualmente.

See Press Release
Source: OSIPTEL

The Consumer Protection Test for telephone number allocation will prohibit the allocation of 070 personal numbers, 0871/2/3 special service higher rate numbers and 09 premium rate numbers by Ofcom to anyone who appears on either of two lists. The lists, which will be published on the Ofcom website, will name companies and individuals that have in the past used telephone numbers to cause serious or repeated harm to consumers or are involved in cases that we are currently investigating. In compiling the lists, Ofcom will assess individuals and companies (including company directors) that have come to its attention by being subject to a decision from a relevant authority (such as PhonepayPlus, the Office of Fair Trading or the police) and where telephone numbers were central to the behaviour that led to the decision concerned. Scams, frauds and other abuses carried out by individuals and companies using telephone numbers cause serious consumer harm and threaten confidence in certain numbers. Ofcom is responsible for managing the UK’s telephone numbers and for ensuring that best use is made of this resource. Ofcom allocates telephone numbers to a broad range of providers who may then sub-allocate them to organisations, businesses and individuals to use themselves.  From 1 January 2009, the test will apply to numbers newly allocated by Ofcom to communications providers.  Ofcom will allow communications providers to take a self-regulatory approach to introducing a similar consumer protection test in their own number allocation processes and strongly encourages providers to do so.  Ofcom will monitor progress to see if this approach is sufficient and will consider additional regulation where necessary.

See Statement
Source: OFCOM

The Commission today welcomed the Colombian national regulator's (the National Commission for Television CNTV) selection the European Digital Video Broadcasting standard (DVB-T) for the country's digital terrestrial TV. The terrestrial DVB standard, DVB-T, has already been adopted in Europe and by over 120 countries in Asia, Africa, Oceania and Latin America. The decision by the Colombian regulator will confirm the EU's commitment to working with Colombia and the rest of Latin America to better exploit the potential of ICT and media. Other Latin American countries (such as Peru, Venezuela, Argentina or Chile) are expected to decide soon about their digital TV standard. In August 2007, Uruguay was the first Latin American country to choose to use the DVB family of standards for its digital TV needs.

Source: Europa

Ofcom published today further consultation documents as part of its Pay TV market investigation and its consideration of the proposal from BSkyB/Arqiva for a new Pay TV service called “Picnic” on digital terrestrial TV.
 
The Pay TV consultation document can be found here
The consultation on “Picnic” can be found here
 
Source: OFCOM

The National Telecom Regulatory Authority Board of Directors decided to defer the auction of the second fixed license for a year as a response to the changes taking place in the international markets. The deadline for submitting the offers of the second fixed license was due on 18th September.
According to Dr. Amr Badawi, the Executive President of the NTRA, this decision was issued in the light of the discussions that took place between the NTRA and the twelve companies that bought the specifications handbook. The ICT international markets in Europe and the United States are facing major fluctuations due to the increasing inflation rates and the increasing prices. The ICT investments worldwide are accordingly shrinking. Therefore the decision was taken to postpone the license until a tangible improvement in the international market is witnessed. It is worth mentioning in this regard that the investments of the second fixed license are not expected to be less than one billion dollars during the first years of operation.

See Press Release
Source: Egypt - NTRA National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority

The Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA), acting on behalf of the government, has imposed a daily fine equivalent to five million Rwandan francs 5,000,000 Rwf for two weeks for poor network services.

During that period, MTN Rwandacell shall submit to RURA, a clear roadmap showing the actions to be undertaken to meet the quality of service standards. The road map shall ensure that MTN will be able to solve the problem within a period not exceeding two months. The road map shall be subject to the Regulatory Board approval.

See Press Release / Decision
Source: Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency

The basic principle of the Commission's draft Recommendation on regulatory strategy to promote high-speed Next Generation Access networks in Europe sets out that national regulatory authorities should provide access to the networks of dominant operators at the lowest possible level. In particular, they should mandate access to the ducts of the dominant operators allowing competitors to roll out their own fibre. However NRAs should also impose further physical access obligations (access to unlit fibre) beyond access to ducts where ducts are not available or the population density is too low for a sustainable business model. Access to active elements such as "bitstream" shall be maintained provided lower level remedies do not sufficiently address distortions of competition. The draft Recommendation provides also a common approach to ensure non-discriminatory access, as well as a methodology for calculating a proper rate of return, including a risk premium. The Commission believes that for NGA, rates of return should be derived in the light of the risks associated with this kind of investment, bearing in mind that the nominal pre-tax weighted average cost of capital for fixed and mobile operators has been roughly 8 to 12% in recent years. Broadband access is currently regulated by national regulators. The objective of the Commission's Recommendation will be to foster the application of consistent access remedies on dominant NGA operators. It builds on the European Regulators Group ("ERG") opinion on regulatory principles of NGA submitted to the Commission on 1 October 2007.

The Commission's public consultation document can be found here. 
The work of the ERG on NGA is available here  and here. 

Source: Europa