Sunday 5 February 2012

Contents of module

Introduction

Regulators tend to have a fairly consistent view of what their overall role should be. While the wording used varies from country to country, it generally boils down to ensuring that telecoms customers receive the best possible service in terms of quality, choice and value for money.

However, each Regulator pursues this role using different procedures and emphasis. This section looks at some of the approaches taken.

Regulators are subject to a many pressures and these come from a range of sources. The operators try to influence decisions to give themselves competitive advantage the equipment suppliers want a technical environment in which their products can be marketed; trade bodies wish to look after the interests of their members; and so on.

However, when all is said and done, the primary role of independent regulators in the newly emerging competitive telecoms markets is to safeguard the public’s interest.

Core Responsibilities

The following is a list of responsibilities that are the responsibility of regulators in most countries:

  • issuing licences for all segments of the telecoms industry;
  • regulating licensees to ensure that they fully meet the terms of heir licences;
  • protecting customers against the failure of licensees to provide the services for which they are licensed;
  • costing, and ensuring delivery of, the Universal Service Obligation (USO);
  • ensuring that carriers avoid the use of their networks for illegal or improper activities;
  • ensuring that carriers provide adequate access to emergency call services;
  • ensuring that licensees protect their customers’ confidential information;
  • ensuring that carriage service providers make plans to manage natural disasters;
  • regulating the inter-carrier use of calling line identification (CLI);
  • establishing technical standards and issuing permits for equipment and cabling;
  • establishing and maintaining an appropriate numbering plan;
  • ! regulating and enforcing the powers and responsibilities of the icensees;
  • providing information about the telecoms industry, especially in those areas for which the regulator has responsibility; and
  • investigating complaints from customers, other licensees, industry odies or any other source.

Secondary Responsibilities

The following are being termed ‘secondary responsibilities’ not because they are less important but because they tend to be less common:

  • annual and quarterly reporting of the performance of carriage ervice providers with reference to consumer satisfaction, consumer benefits and quality of service;
  • the continued availability of an untimed local call charge option;
  • the establishments of standards for standard telephone handsets hat prescribe facilities to be made available for people with disabilities;
  • public education campaigns on various telecom issues;
  • setting and implementation of Customer Service Guarantees;
  • ensuring appropriate membership or exemption from the ecommunications Ombudsman Scheme by all carriage service providers;
  • registration, with safety-net style enforcement powers, of industry including consumer, operations and technical) codes of practice;
  • setting of industry standards where codes fail or fail to be created;
  • ensuring that carriers and carriage service providers are prepared to provide services for defence purposes;
  • ensuring carriers and carriage service providers co-operate with law enforcement agencies in relation to the Telecommunications (Interception) Act 1979 and consult with law enforcement agencies about the possible impact of new technology on the operation of those agencies;

Advisory Committees

To assist in carrying out their roles effectively, Regulators often find it useful to establish advisory committees covering specific areas of their work. Typically, such advisory bodies include:

  • Telecom Standards

    Some of the areas in which such a Committee could help a Regulator are:

    • the establishment and maintenance of technical standards;
    • the policies and procedures for the testing, approval and certification of telecoms equipment;
    • the technical specifications for type-approval;
    • the formulation of the national position on technical issues at international forums; and
    • the presentation of the national position at international forums

  • Numbering Plan

    Some of the areas in which such a Committee could help a Regulator are:

    • the development and implementation of the nation’s numbering lan; and
    • the allocating of numbers in a fair and equitable manner both to elecoms operators and to users.

  • User Interests

    Some of the areas in which such a Committee could help a Regulator are:

    • the suitable development, provision and maintenance of telecoms services seen from the consumer’s perspective; and
    • the education of, and dissemination of information to, users to maximise the benefits available.

Pro-Competition Bodies

A number of countries have established pro-competition bodies that have a responsibility to promote competition across all industries, not just in telecoms. Where such bodies exist, their interests and those of the telecom regulator often overlap.

This overlap should not cause any conflict. Telecoms regulators have wider concerns than just encouraging competition. Even on the issue of competition, the pro-competition bodies have a more general outlook, while the telecom regulators are more specialised.

Even so, it is necessary to appreciate that there could be potential conflict, and close co-operation between the two bodies is a wise precaution.

Industry Associations

In most countries there exist special interest groups relating to the telecoms industry. For example, groups or associations may be established for equipment suppliers, Internet service providers, paging operators and any other specialist interest. It is wise for a regulatory body to establish channels of communication with these groups while, at the same time, ensuring that its independence in making regulatory decisions is maintained.

Advising Government on Telecom Policies

As the official body relating to the telecoms industry, Regulators are often expected by governments to advise them on the telecoms industry on policies to be adopted and other matters of major importance connected with the industry.

International Activities

Again, being the official body relating to the telecoms industry, a Regulator is often the focus for international activities. Such activities can range from representing the country at overseas conferences to monitoring what is happening elsewhere in the world and making that knowledge available to interested domestic bodies.

Case Study

In his presentation to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in June 1999, under the title Regulatory Framework for Telecommunications in Hong Kong, Mr Wong, Hong Kong’s Regulator, listed OFTA’s key responsibilities. These include:

  • licensing
  • ensuring competition
  • dealing with the incumbent operator

Further Reading

The role of a telecoms Regulator can be very broad, such as with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the U.S.

Having to regulate a company that is dominant in the telecoms industry can be one of the trickiest parts of a Regulator’s job. Such companies tend to be rich, be connected to almost every other part of the industry and have political power.

The European Commission has undertaken a number of studies of companies that have significant market power in the telecom industries of its member countries.