3 comments

• Comment Link Monday, 23 April 2012 08:46 posted by Nick Williams

  Comment received from Nick Williams - former telecoms regulator in the region
  
  I refer to your discussion note: "Net Benefits". If I may, I would like to make two observations, as a previous telecoms regulator in the region.
  
  First, within the Pacific there have been great strides made to improve the supply of telecommunications. Previous under-performing monopolistic telecoms regimes have been replaced by compettive markets, with new licensees driving down costs, improving quality and extending the mix of services available. I won't suggest that the Pacific is at the leading edge of telecommunications, clearly it is not. But big strides have been made and the implementation of submarine fibre-optic networks will only serve to improve things further. But we shouldn't forget that there are two sides to a market: the supply and the demand sides. It is the latter that remains of concern to me. As your discussion note illustrates, clearly there are people in the regon with the tecnical expertise and access to resources that can make quite innovative use of the telecoms networks available to them. However, this should not be taken as a representation of the whole. Most people have only very limited experience, if any experience at all, of telecoms and do not necessarily appreciate just what modern telecoms systems can do. My gripe when I was in the region, as regulator in the Solomon Islands, was that Governments and donor organisations were only too happy to be involved in physical network projects but insufficient attention was being spent 'educating' people on the use of telecoms, how it might be integrated into business, how behaviours would still need to be addressed to make best use of new technology and what technologies were most appropriate for different purposes. As an example, it is no use flaunting a new telecoms network capable of supporting the provision of electronic medical records if there are no skills available to integrate the network with existing IT systems; if behaviours that saw incomplete paper records are not addressed (if staff didn't complete paper records, why believe that they will input records just because they are in electronic form); if there ae no means or skills available to use the records once collected. Too often, I fear, getting the supply side right is seen as the be all and end all. It isn't. It is a very valuable beginning but there is still plenty of work beyond that if real demand is to be created.
  
  Second, and this is a bug bear for me wherever I go, if telecommunications is so important (which it is), why do Government's consistently over-tax the sector and its users, be it through usage taxes on duties, say on handsets. If we want a data market and we believe this acts as a catalyst for the economy as a whole, why place duties on 3G mobile equipment? Shouldn't operators be able to accelerate equipment depreciation against tax? Should telecoms usage actually bear no or a reduced consumption tax? In short, where is the innovation in the tax system to help support telecommunications' contribution to the creation of a properly functioning economy?
  
  The Discussion Note gives a snapshot of the possible by reflecting on what is already happening. Just think how much more could be going on if policies were implemented (not just talked about at international meetings) that actually look to drive adoption across all citizens of the Pacific
• Comment Link Wednesday, 18 April 2012 15:58 posted by Derek Brien, PiPP Executive Director

  Many thanks Lam, it is great to have your feedback on the uptake of internet in FSM. The absence on our graphic in the discussion paper was due to lack of comparable data from the International Telecommunications Union (the source for the data used to generate the map). We are very glad to have your insight to what is actually happening on the ground, and even though it is anecdotal, it still adds to what we know.
  
  It is sad to hear about the pending closure of the MicSem forum - http://www.micsem.org/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=9869&page=1#Item_0 - which did indeed set an early benchmark for online discussions in the Pacific.
  
  We at PiPP very much hope these important conversations from the north Pacific can continue to flourish in the absence of what has been a very valuable resource for all of us.
  
  It would be terrific to hear from folks in FSM, Marshalls, Palau and further afield to get some ideas on how to fill what will be a considerable gap when the MicSem forum is discontinued.
• Comment Link Monday, 16 April 2012 14:29 posted by Lam Dang

  I note a conspicuous absence on the map within the discussion paper showing mobile penetration in the Pacific: the Federated States of Micronesia. It may give the impression that somehow the digital revolution has left the FSM on the sideline. Nothing is further from the truth. Buoyed by the connection to the fiber-optic cable to Guam Internet usage is booming. This along with a quick public adoption of mobile technology provide growth for the local telecommunications company and concern that the regulatory environment has become outdated.
  
  Very early on the FSM has also taken to Internet discussion groups like the NGO-run Micronesian Seminar Forum that the government, even though sometimes annoyed, allowed without interference. Sadly though the Forum will be closed down shortly by its owners, the Jesuits, because of administrative reasons.