1 A Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist (March 1927 – 17 April 2014).2 If you think that you are suffering from information overload then you may be right – a new study by the University of Southern California shows that everyone is bombarded by the equivalent of 174 newspapers of data a day. Further, every day the average person produces six newspapers worth of information compared with just two and a half pages 24 years ago – nearly a 200-fold increase. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/8316534/Welcome-to-the-information-age-174-newspapers-a-day.html (accessed on Feb.23, 2015).3 Chetan Sharma, Mobile 4th Wave: Evolution of the next trillion dollars, Mobile Future Forward, September 10, 2013, Seattle at page 7.4 See results of the United Nations Public Service Awards Winners 2014 available at : http://workspace.unpan.org/sites/Internet/Documents/2014%20UNPSA%20List%20of%20Winners.doc.pdf (Accessed on March 3, 2015). Digital India is an initiative of the Government of India to integrate the government departments and the people of India. It aims at ensuring that government services are made available to citizens electronically by reducing paperwork. The initiative also includes a plan to connect rural areas with high-speed internet networks.5 https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0018-understanding-mobile-apps (Accessed on May 18, 2015).6 http://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/overview (Accessed on May 18, 2015).7 ITU ICT Facts & Figures 2015. Available at: http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/facts/ICTFactsFigures2015.pdf (Accessed on June 2, 2015). 8 Making Mobile Phones and Services Accessible for Persons with Disabilities: A Joint Report of ITU and G3ICT, November 20111 at page 58. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which came into force in May 2008, enshrines the principle that all persons with disabilities must be able to enjoy basic human rights and fundamental freedoms, one of which is the right of persons with disabilities to access information and communications technologies and systems on an equal basis with others and without discrimination.9 Robert Frieden, “Lessons from Broadband Deployment in Canada, Japan, Korea and the United States” Telecommunications Policy 2005 at Page 9.10 Some countries choose to have one policy for universal service and re-define universal standards to include broadband. Others have a policy for universal access and another for broadband deployment. Still others set a general target for access nationally while others differentiate from region to region. In Malaysia, for example, broadband and universal service policies are separate, and levels of access are terraced by region.11 http://broadbandtoolkit.org/4.2.12 United States Federal Communications Commission contribution to the 2015 Global Symposium for Regulators Consultation.13 Measuring the Information Society Report, 2014.14 ITU ICT Facts & Figures 2015. http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/facts/ICTFactsFigures2015.pdf.15 Big data: Seizing opportunities, preserving values, Executive Office of the President, May 2014. https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/big_ data_ privacy_ report_ may_ 1_ 2014.pd (Accessed on May 13, 2015).16 http://ibnlive.in.com/news/karnataka-launches-m-one-app-citizens-can-access-637-government-services/517116-62-129.html (Accessed on May 4, 2015).17 http://www.trai.gov.in.18 Big data: Opportunity or thereat? B Andrew Haire & others, GSR 2014 Discussion Paper. Available at: http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Conferences/GSR/Documents/GSR2014/Discussion%20papers%20and%20presentations%20-%20GSR14/Session3_ GSR14-DiscussionPaper-BigData.pdf (Accessed on March 27, 2015).19 www.ictregulationtoolkit.org /6.2.20 http://www.ictregulationtoolkit.org/3.8.1.2 Licensing for Converged and Next Generation Networks.21 GSR Discussion Paper (2014): Why competition matters and how to foster it in a dynamic ICT sector. Hernandez et al. Available at: http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Conferences/GSR/Documents/GSR2014/Discussion%20papers%20and%20146 Trends in Telecommunication Reform 2016 Endnotes