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HIPSSA Project

HIPSSA Project. Support for Harmonization of the ICT Policies in Sub-Sahara Africa. The assessment of international best practices and regional practices regarding access to landing stations and international capacity. Isabelle Gross – Balancing Act. Introduction

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HIPSSA Project

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  1. HIPSSA Project Support for Harmonization of the ICT Policies in Sub-Sahara Africa The assessment of international best practices and regional practices regarding access to landing stations and international capacity Isabelle Gross – Balancing Act

  2. Introduction International best practices: - Emergence and implementation of the concept of Open Access - India: an example from an emerging country Regional best practices: - Mauritius: Price regulation by ICT & Enforcement of open access principle - Kenya: Licensing regime Table of contents

  3. Introduction: • “Bandwidth is the petrol of the new global economy. Affordable international bandwidth is an essential component for any African country to remain competitive in a growing interconnected world.” • Therefore • competitively priced wholesale international bandwidth • transparent and non-discriminatory access to it • are paramount principles

  4. 4 International best practices: ► Emergence and implementation of the concept of Open Access – 90’s (1/3) • International organisations (GATS; ITU) • European Union • USA

  5. 5 International best practices: ► Emergence and implementation of the concept of Open Access – 90’s (2/3) • The Annex on telecommunications in the General agreement on trade in services (GATS) provides that: “Each Member shall ensure that any service supplier of any other Member is accorded access to and use of public telecommunications transport networks and services on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and conditions, for the supply of a service included in its Schedule.”

  6. 6 International best practices: ► Emergence and implementation of the concept of Open Access – 90’s (3/3) • Directive 90/387/CEE of 28 June 1990 on the establishment of the internal market for telecommunications services through the implementation of open network provision (ONP). • USA’s approach via the development of competition on a local level in order to establish principles for Open Network Architecture (ONA).

  7. 7 International best practices: ► India: an example from an emerging country - an emerging country (versus developed country like USA) - a “very dynamic” ICT sector - has positioned itself as a major place for business outsourcing (basic services but also more sophisticated IT services with higher value output) ► demonstrated its ability to use ICT to increase the overall country’s wealth and can serve as a model for African countries

  8. 8 International best practices: ► India: a two stage approach to regulating landing stations and international capacity Intervention on pricing of international capacity - The Telecommunication Tariff (Thirty Ninth Amendment) Order, 2005 - In 2005, using its powers of control over wholesale offer prices, the Indian regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI,) capped the tariffs for international private leased circuits (IPLC) for the three most used levels of capacities – E-1, DS-3 and STM-1

  9. 9 International best practices: ► India: a two stage approach to regulating landing stations and international capacity Intervention on access: - In June 2007, the TRAI completed the previous measures by publishing a rule on access to essential installations in submarine cable landing stations. - International Telecommunication Access to Essential Facilities at Cable Landing Stations Regulation, 2007. File n° 416-1/2007-FN

  10. 10 International best practices: ► India: a two stage approach to regulating landing stations and international capacity “According to the terms of this rule, any operator owning a Cable Landing Station (CLS) on Indian territory must present a Reference Offer for approval by the Authority (within 30 days of application of the regulation) containing the terms and conditions of access to installations as well as terms of co-localisation in these stations.”

  11. 11 International best practices: ► India: a two stage approach to regulating landing stations and international capacity Access obligations of the CLS (3) • The obligation of the owner of a landing station to provide access to any submarine cable system on a fair and non-discriminatory basis (Article 3.1) • The obligation for the owner of a land terminal station to facilitate access to a backhaul circuit for an operator including offering co-localisation space (Article 8.3) • a obligation to provide virtual co-localisations space when physical co-localisation is not feasible (Article 17)

  12. 12 International best practices: ► India: a two stage approach to regulating landing stations and international capacity Conclusion: The Indian regulations mean that new service providers have access to international capacity on the same terms as consortium members and physical access to the landing station is not unduly delayed for operators wanting to connect to it.

  13. 13 Regional best practices: ► Mauritius: Price regulation by ICTA - Article 31 of the Mauritius law on telecoms (Information and Communications Technologies Act 2001): approval of the tariffs of telecommunications services by the regulator - Regulatory intervention in 2006

  14. 14 Regional best practices: ► Mauritius: Price regulation by ICTA • In 2006, the Authority thus significantly lowered the prices of IPLCs for Mauritius Telecom. • The decrease in Half-Circuit IPLC tariffs applies to four routes: Mauritius to Portugal, Mauritius to South Africa, Mauritius to India and Mauritius to Malaysia and covers a connection speed ranges from 64 to 2048 Kpbs. • The new tariffs include the backhauling and local loop access in Mauritius.

  15. 15 Regional best practices: ► Mauritius: Enforcement of open access principle • Open access policy for undersea cable landing stations in Mauritius (October 2010) - infrastructure versus services - ownership of the cable (SPV) - access to capacity - open access

  16. 16 Regional best practices: ► Mauritius: Enforcement of open access principle - Reference Cross Connection Offer (RCCO) model at submarine cable landing stations (April 2012) - ICTA “ The RCCO will henceforth provide other licensed International Long Distance operators and Networking Services Providers with the opportunity to become capacity owner on existing undersea cable system and get access to the landing stations of Mauritius Telecom while at the same time choose backhaul services from any other licensed access providers. “

  17. 17 Regional best practices: ► Kenya: Licensing regime - Licensed system versus licensed service - International submarine cable landing system and terminal equipment within the Kenyan territory for the conveyance of telecommunication traffic between Kenya and the rest of the world - The conveyance of international telecommunication traffic (originating, terminating or transiting) by means of the licensed system which shall be interconnected with systems of duly entitities in Kenya

  18. 18 Regional best practices: ► Kenya: Licensing regime Licence conditions: - condition 2: requirement to provide licensed services - condition 3: open access, co-location, transit and backhaul facilities - condition 7: charges, terms and conditions - condition 8: quality of service requirements - condition11: fair trading - condition 12: prohibition on undue discrimination - condition 13: Accounting principles

  19. Thanks a lot for your attention Union Internationale des Télécommunications International Telecommunication Union

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