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Pro-Poor, Pro-Market ICT Policy and Governance

Pro-Poor, Pro-Market ICT Policy and Governance. Scaling Up. The Case. There is substantial demand for ICTs and services in poorer populations It has been predominantly for voice communication But is increasingly encompassing (in particular) employment and incomes general education

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Pro-Poor, Pro-Market ICT Policy and Governance

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  1. Pro-Poor, Pro-Market ICT Policy and Governance Scaling Up

  2. The Case • There is substantial demand for ICTs and services in poorer populations • It has been predominantly for voice communication • But is increasingly encompassing (in particular) • employment and incomes • general education • health and health education

  3. The Case • There is also growing use of ICT in public activity crucial for poverty reduction • better and more pro-poor design and delivery of social services, especially education and health, but also social safety nets and economic services (water, roads etc) • political/social/gender empowerment and government accountability

  4. Somaliland • Formerly part of Somalia, Somaliland declared independence in 1991, and has no ICT regulatory agency. Although ICT penetration is low, there is considerable use of mobile phones, including by poor people. Local telephone calls within an area are free of charge if they belong to the same company, and • “The rates for international mobile calls are internationally among the lowest and this may be seen as a combined result of real ‘competition’; low economic level/ development and no public intervention...” • The only significant problem is lack of interconnection among providers, so that users need 4 or 5 phones to be sure to be able to call anyone. This is a problem that could be solved by light regulation, requiring interconnection and adding slightly to costs calls. • *Knud Eric Skouby and Reza Tadayoni, A case study on Somaliland, in the framework of the WDR projecthttp://www.regulateonline.org/pdf/wdr0306.pdf

  5. The Challenge • ICTs have to become low-cost quite quickly • to be affordable to poorer users • to be affordable to strained public budgets, especially social services • Unless user costs fall, many ICT4D investments subsidizing ICT access since the 1990s will be undermined • from telecentres to school nets • because many public and donor subsidies will ultimately stop

  6. The Challenge • Similarly, economic competitiveness will decline as other economies succeed in ICT benefits • large transactions cost reductions in most economic sectors, as well as social and political development activity • SMEs and informal sector included • And broad or universal ICT access will be central to newer technology diffusion and governance • biotech, nanotech and emerging technologies

  7. The Reality • Mobiles and wireless ICT use is expanding rapidly in most developing countries • Fixed line expansion, and computer and broadband use, are stalled • The difference is mainly due to differences in policy and regulation • Wireless broadband technologies may be the answer, BUT • this is, at the least, some years away • it could be stalled by poor policy and regulation • fixed line will be important for the foreseeable future

  8. ICT Policy and Regulation • While there is much technical detail, competition is needed, typically requiring more than one (2-4) telecom operators – and similarly for mobile - and • There are several mechanisms and approaches to making policy and regulatory regimes pro-poor, in addition to the essential element of getting access costs down, including:

  9. ICT Policy and Regulation • removal of regulatory restrictions on a variety of forms of participation in network and service development or, better, regulatory facilitation of participation; • the design of market mechanisms to enable sustainable market functioning for services used by the poor; • transparent, market-based subsidies, such as least-cost subsidy auctions, to suppliers to build networks in the least serviced areas; and • demand side subsidies directly to consumers rather than suppliers to address the problem of effective demand in the context of low purchasing power.

  10. How to Get There • ICT policy and regulation is a key ongoing component of public policy • The global PPPM initiative, and others, provide • training for policy makers, regulators and researchers • research support in government and outside • advocacy and coalition building • networking – regional and international

  11. Global & Regional PPPM initiatives • are not intergovernmental; • focus on local research and advocacy; • aim at long-term local capacity building and the development of regional research networks; • develop South-South and South-North networking and dialogue; • are politically reformist in nature, and postulate large areas of win-win territory, based on the experience of developed and developing countries; and • include microeconomic (community, household) assessment of the impacts, benefits and costs of policy/regulatory reform and ICT diffusion

  12. PPPM partners • Link Centre (link.wits.ac.za) and Research ICT Africa (researchictafrica.net/) • LIRNE.NET (lirne.net) and the World Dialogue on Regulation (regulateonline.org) • LIRNEasia, launched Sept. 17 in Colombo • IDRC, DANIDA, the World Bank (InfoDev), OECD, EBRD, Industry Canada • New partnerships emerging

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