Developing Countries Need Rules for IP-based Networks
GENEVA -- Global telephony subscription keeps rising, but developing countries need regulatory reform to give IP-based networks solid footing, the ITU said Tuesday. The U.S. has the most broadband subscribers, but China is gaining fast, the report said.
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In 2006 four billion subscribers were using mobile or fixed phone services, the report said. Fixed-line users numbered 1.27 billion, said Doreen Bogden-Martin, heads of the ITU Development Bureau’s regulatory and market environment unit. Developing nations had 68 percent of the 2.68 billion mobile subscribers, she said. In Q1 2006 China and India together added nearly 200 million mobile subscribers; China, 87 million, India, 110 million. Competition has fueled much of the growth, Bogden-Martin said.
More than a billion people use the Internet, the report said. Africa, with 10 percent of the world’s population, has only 0.1 percent of broadband subscribers, the report said. Of the 50 least-developed countries, only 22 have access to broadband, with only 46,000 subscribers among all those nations, the report said. A basic broadband connection can cost hundreds of dollars a month, an official said.
Obsolete regulatory systems block development, said Bogden-Martin. But policymakers are dropping practices that have stifled innovation and investment, said Susan Schorr, a regulatory officer in the regulatory and market environment unit. National regulatory authorities have multiplied from 14 in 1990 to 148 this year, she said.
Network operators are moving to IP-based networks, Schorr said. Next-generation network activity gets noticed mostly in France, Japan, the U.K. and other developed markets, but it’s also emerging in developing markets like Bahrain and Chile. Argentina, Bangladesh, Bulgaria and Pakistan are beginning to make the switch to IP-based networks, Schorr said.
“The move to NGN has been fueled by the rise of the Internet,” Schorr said. An NGN marks an evolutionary move from a one network, one service approach to one network with multiple services, she said. Guaranteeing service quality will improve what operators can offer, Schorr said. That’s a step up from today’s jittery VoIP services, she said. And NGN offers more bandwidth for offerings like IPTV, Schorr said.
Regulatory changes are needed in developing countries, the ITU said. Licensing practices must be simpler, Schorr said. “In many countries, licensing practices would prohibit operators” from offering a triple play of voice, broadband and IPTV, she said. Domestic interconnection for NGN is expected to approach the Internet system of peering and transit, Schorr said. Other changes should promote consumer protection and universal access and address regulatory issues that affect a service provider’s ability to compete, Schorr said.
The U.S. topped the 2006 list with 58.1 million broadband subscribers, the report said. China placed second with 50.9 million. U.S. growth from 2005 was 21 percent, compared with 36 percent in China, ITU statistics showed. About 280 million broadband subscribers have been added to the global total the past six years, Bogden-Martin said. Commercial broadband is available in 170 countries.
A major effort to build out African telecom facilities will be announced at the Oct. 29-30 Connect Africa Summit in Kigali, Rwanda, officials said. The U.S., China, EC, G-8, OECD and Arab countries, as well as business, are involved in the project.