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IIC Annual Conference 2012 - Outline Programme

International Institute of Communications

2012 ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Singapore, Monday 8 and Tuesday 9 October 2012

Trends in Global Communications

Devising Digital Policies for Tomorrow’s Needs and Aspirations

OUTLINE PROGRAMME

MONDAY 8 OCTOBER 2012

08:15   Registration and refreshments

09:00   Welcome and opening remarks from the chair

Welcome Address

Opening Keynote Addresses

• Many countries have or are developing national broadband plans and some are well advanced in their implementation. What are the roles for infrastructure-based competition? What are the benefits and risks of a state- or municipally-owned carriers’ carrier or of public-private partnerships (PPPs)? How far is it practicable for a single fixed infrastructure to be shared by many service providers? Which approaches are providing value for money, high quality of service and access to cloud services?
• Increasingly providers offer service bundles of fixed and mobile, voice and internet access, with large amounts of content. How at the wholesale level can competitive access to networks and to content be ensured? How can wholesale arrangements be constructed so as to make the end-user experience seamless and attractive?
• Demand drivers for broadband, dominated by search, over-the-top and growing concierge services, along with social networking, are changing quickly; this is forcing a rapid growth in network traffic. What techniques are most useful in predicting and understanding why and how demand will change? What remedial action can be taken to cope with the inevitable, unexpected disruptions?
• Hitherto much of the focus has been on broadband for people, but the “internet of things”, smart cars, smart cities and the ubiquitous network society are growing in significance. How will these phenomena affect the ways in which networks are deployed?

• Because of competing demands, frequency allocation is a critical issue for both broadcasting and telecommunications. To what extent have stocktaking and forecasting exercises been beneficial in understanding use of and demand for spectrum? Which mechanisms are governments using to revise and update their national spectrum plans? How much progress is being made towards digital switchover and the release of a digital dividend?
• Which methods of spectrum allocation have proved most successful in prioritizing and reconciling conflicting demands? How can auctions and ‘beauty contests’ be conducted transparently, equitably and efficiently? What are the practicalities of options such as spectrum trading and frequency sharing?
• Can some of the large amounts of already allocated spectrum be reclaimed or bought back? Has removing licence obligations to use a specific technology improved services for consumers? Which processes work best when renewing licences?
• Coordination in the use of spectrum is essential between countries. How are the results of the ITU’s 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference helping? Which regional coordination mechanisms are proving most effective, for instance in refarming and harmonising bands? How is international coordination being incorporated into national plans?

1. Attracting investment into technology, media and telecommunications markets

• Continuing global economic difficulties have tightened the supply of capital and increased uncertainties. How is this affecting investment in new fixed broadband networks, in 3G and 4G/LTE, and in digital broadcasting? What impact is it having on content creation and service development?
• Since new networks and the creative industries both require substantial capital, how are long term investments being reconciled with expectations of short term returns? What levels of return are required by different types of investor and which business models are likely to deliver them? What are the advantages of clustering activities in one city or region?
• There are a range of potential investors in technology, media and telecommunications markets: venture capitalists, individual ‘angel’ investors, private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds. How can risk be minimized and each of these players be encouraged to have maximum involvement?

2. Analysing demand for broadband

• Technology is delivering ever faster access speeds to homes and to hand-held devices, up to gigabits per second. For which applications and services is this capacity going to be used? What evidence is there that end-users are likely to need or want them?
• What is being done to understand the complex, changing nature of demand? For example, consumers seem reluctant to pay for higher broadband speeds, but many will buy costly services and expensive devices (e.g. smartphones).
• Disadvantaged groups (e.g. the very poor, the disabled, the elderly and those in remote locations) present special challenges in devising discrete strategies and business models, services and technological solutions. How are these being met?

3. Realising the benefits of competition   

• Antitrust law with its well established analytical tools is seen in some quarters as taking precedence over other principles and forms of regulation. In what circumstances should competition principles be overridden by other policy considerations?
• Competition authorities are empowered to act across the economy while there are specific sector arrangements for communications markets. How have the very different institutional arrangements been made to work? How have the ex post and ex ante approaches to regulation been reconciled? Are problems of regulatory overlap and ‘forum shopping’ inescapable?
• With media and telecoms players operating increasingly across national boundaries and with few trans-national authorities in place, how can governments and regulators ensure fair competition? To what degree do commitments to the WTO’s General Agreement on Trade in Services and to free trade agreements (FTAs) help? How can competition within a jurisdiction be made to work given the presence of players from another location with significantly lighter or minimal obligations under sector regulation?

TUESDAY 9 OCTOBER 2012

 08:30   Refreshments

• Freedoms of speech and of access to information are human rights as, it is argued, is access to the internet. These, however, have to be reconciled with protection from crimes of violence, hate speech, and with moral and cultural values. How do we achieve explicit statements of where the balances lie? Given differences between jurisdictions, how can we avoid a shattering fragmentation of the internet?
• Services and sites can be blocked at national gateways and there are tools to allow households to block access for family members. How can parental supervision of children be made more effective? Do bypass devices and services completely undermine these controls? In sensitive content areas what are the pros and cons of a ‘light touch’ or more interventionist approaches?
• Different rules having been created for the printed word, television, movies, games and the internet, to what extent ought governments to aim for more consistency? If domestic rules cannot be applied to content from foreign sources, what are the implications? How should user-generated content be dealt with?

4. Copyright – seeking a better deal for consumers and creators

• The internet is now the distribution platform of choice for an increasing range of news, books, music, images, video, games, and 3D content, created on and accessible from an array of computers, tablets, e-readers and smartphones, with limitless storage in the cloud. How is the innovative potential of these technologies being used to ensure rewards for creators of content? Which business models can best satisfy the desires of users to consume and to adapt content how, where and when they want? Can established user rights for traditional media be extended to new media?
• It has been argued that copyright licensing systems are not ‘fit for purpose’, given changes in technology, economics and globalization. Which elements should be retained and which added? Is a whole new framework necessary?
• There is a multiplicity of players between the content creator and the consumer.   How are relationships between wholesale players being affected by the new technologies? Can a higher level of transparency be achieved? Is the use of sector laws and regulations to enforce contract law unavoidable?

5. Protecting consumer privacy

• Increasing numbers of commercial, social and e-government services are now online, with consumers being encouraged to come online to access them. How can consumers’ transactions and data best be protected? Which elements of privacy need to be added to digital literacy programmes?
• Given the growing commercial use of personal data (e.g. for targeted advertising), how can a balance be struck between personal privacy and the development of innovative services? Can a ‘right to be forgotten’ be a plausible solution?
• A growing number of online interactions are across borders and an increasing amount of personal data is being stored in the cloud in different jurisdictions. This may not be obvious to the consumer, for example, because the process is embedded in a social network service or inside an app. How can data protection and privacy policies be coordinated internationally so as to avoid impeding cross-border data flows whilst complying with national data privacy standards? By what means could consumers in one country get protection and redress when data are misused in another? Can international regulatory arbitrage be avoided?
• Businesses and governments are looking to capture and analyse ‘big data’ as a means to drive innovative products and services. Is there a need to define who owns such data and how it can be used? Is a framework required to define privacy rights?

6. Minimizing risks – A regulator’s challenge

• Real or prospective changes in laws, policies and regulations and their interpretation by regulators and by the courts, along with unanticipated decisions (whether based on technological or market changes, altered political priorities, or legal judgements) can increase costs, reduce the attractiveness of investment and reshape the competitive rules of the game. In the context of legal and regulatory frameworks what is the best way to pre-empt undesirable market shocks?
• Given that the objective is balanced, flexible and predictable regulation, is it possible to identify particular approaches which will achieve these ends? To what extent can the early involvement of current and emerging players mitigate risks whilst achieving policy goals?
• National and international regulation has become increasingly complex as it has expanded to include consumer protection, digital rights and new uses of existing networks. What can be done to reduce ambiguities and misunderstandings?

• Since broadband access and broadcasting have a role to play in achieving national objectives such as poverty reduction and economic growth - how best can authorities monitor progress? Which mechanisms ensure that all relevant issues are covered in policy formulation and regulation? What is global best practice in the use of public consultations and impact assessments in elaborating and re-evaluating communications policy?
• Government departments and regulatory agencies are subject to parliamentary oversight; what sort of mechanisms can best deliver effective scrutiny and accountability? Which types of support do parliamentarians need to perform these roles effectively?
• Given that under the rule of law decisions by government departments and regulatory authorities - in order to be credible - need to be contestable by industry providers and through public interest litigation, what constitutes an efficient and effective system of judicial review and appeals? How can long delays and uncertainties be avoided?
• The evolution of technologies and markets require periodic reviews and redesigns of governance systems for communications markets. From experience, how can this be done most efficiently? Which factors should be considered in reconciling global best practice and national legal traditions or cultures?

15:45   End of conference

© International Institute of Communications, 2012