Page 134 - Trends in Telecommunication Reform 2016

Depending on the context, the three benchmarks • Governments as researchers – Governments
of effectiveness, efficiency, and flexibility are conducting or funding research on
might have different relevance or weight. One technical or societal issues important for
might imagine scenarios, for example, in which interop.
interoperability serves such an important goal
(e.g., emergency number compatibility) that • Governments as service providers –
flexibility – at least in the short run – is less Governments can choose to provide cloud
important than a high degree of effectiveness services for use by other government agencies
in the immediate term. In other instances, a or the public.
government might not want to impose standards,
given their relatively high cost and poor flexibility, Governments should critically consider the
despite the approach’s potential effectiveness. timing and type of any intervention on behalf
of promoting interoperability. Regulators,
for instance, need to determine carefully the
4.6 The role of government appropriate time to intervene, for instance, by
adjusting consumer protection or privacy laws.
They need to strike the right balance between
4.6.1 Governments have multiple roles facilitating technological innovation and providing
regulatory safeguards for users and other
As noted above, governments and regulators can stakeholders. Ideally, the government responds to
choose many possible approaches to fostering public guidance in making these determinations
interoperability. Given the array of approaches, and engages in a multifactor analysis to determine
as well as the necessity of properly matching the right time to intervene with the right
the approach to the situation, it is important to intervention. Such an analysis would include
consider how governments can best deploy their assessing the maturity of the technology and
array of tools in the “interop toolbox.” market structure.

Of course, governments can act as regulators, Even government use of procurement power
but they can actually implement interop policy requires careful consideration. By acting early to
through several other roles. Consider, for example, influence the market, governments can have the
the following roles that governments have played biggest impact on the development of a market
while pursuing interoperable cloud strategies: and its use of interoperability. But as soon as
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industry practices and standards are set, they are
• Governments as users – Governments are much harder to influence. For that reason, some
adopting cloud computing services to take countries have found better results by anticipating
advantage of cost savings and innovative needs early and entering the market when their
features – and, in turn, they are using their influence can be most effective.
market power to shape interoperability.
It is also critical to recognize that technology,
• Governments as regulators – Governments markets, strategies, and rationales for adoption
can act through their legislative, judicial and and promotion change over time. The dynamic
regulatory branches to implement policy nature of technologies, such as cloud computing,
through the rule of law. requires that governments engage proactively over
time, adjusting their actions with the changing
• Governments as coordinators – Governments landscape. Governments should see this as a
might coordinate public and private initiatives, systematic learning process.
through standards-setting processes and by
facilitating the sharing of information between The National Institute of Standards and Technology
private and public stakeholders. (NIST) at the United States Department of
Commerce has been effective at adapting
• Governments as promoters – Governments to changing circumstances in its work on
can actively promote the industry as a whole development of an interoperable smart grid.
by endorsing and funding incubation programs. One example of this is how NIST managed the
Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP), a multi-

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