Contact :

Mr. Ilyas Ahmed

Chief Executive,

Communications Authority of Maldives,

Maldives

Tel: +960 3312000

Email: ce@cam.gov.mv

Communications Authority of Maldives, Maldives

SUB-REGIONAL ISSUES ON POLICY AND REGULATION OF THE SOUTH

ASIAN SUB-REGION

ASIA-PACIFIC TELECOMMUNITY

14th

APT Policy and Regulatory Forum (PRF-14)

20-22 May, 2014, Pattaya, Thailand

Document

PRF-14/INP- 04

16 May 2014

Ilyas Ahmed

Chairman SATRC

May 2014

Introduction of SATRC

Working Principle

SATRC Action Plan (SAP)

SAP Phase IV

Current Issues

Status and Way Forward

*The South Asian Telecommunication Regulators’ Council

(SATRC) is a key sub regional activity of APT

* It was established in 1997 in cooperation between APT

and ITU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in a high

level commitment from 9 South Asian countries

*SATRC is responsible for discussing and coordinating the

issues such as radiofrequency coordination, standards,

regulatory trends and international affairs which are of

common interest to the telecommunication regulators in

South Asian countries

*To discuss and co-ordinate of all the issues relating to

regulations in telecommunications which are of common

interest to the telecommunication regulators of the South

Asian Countries

*To promote areas of potential co-operation in the

regulatory aspects of telecommunications among South

Asian countries

*To facilitate the exchange of information through

meetings, workshops and other activities

*SATRC Members consists of the regulatory bodies of the following nine South Asian countries:

*Afghanistan

*Bangladesh

*Bhutan

* India

* Islamic Republic of Iran

*Maldives

*Nepal

*Pakistan

*Sri Lanka

*SATRC Meetings are held annually which are attended by the head of the telecommunication regulatory bodies of the SATRC Members

*Head of host regulator takes the chairmanship of SATRC until the next SATRC Meeting

*SATRC Meeting also elects the Vice-Chairman for the same term

*SATRC Meeting normally adopt SATRC Action Plan (SAP) to carry out detail works

*SATRC Meeting also incorporates industry-regulator dialogs in order to develop close relation with telecom industry sector

*Chairman: Mr. Ilyas Ahmed, Chief Executive,

Communication Authority of Maldives (CAM)

*Vice Chairman: Mr. Sonam Phuntsho, Director, Bhutan

Information, Communication and Media Authority (BICMA)

*SATRC Action Plan (SAP) aims to addressing the regulatory issues and challenges of common concern to its members

*Concept of developing SAP was initiated in 2005 from the fact that the key issues can be addressed in a more focused and concentrated manner by adoption of SAP

*SAP provides a common charter to SATRC members for delivering the synergy of collaborative wisdom and action

*Normally, a SAP is adopted for an implementation period of two/three years

*Basic Components of SAP are:

Working Groups:

Capacity Buildings:

SATRC Web Portal:

• To be constituted for in-depth analysis of matters

• To organize workshops/trainings for the personnel of regulatory bodies on the recent trends in telecommunication/ICT sector

• To collect the information from regulatory bodies and publish it of SATRC webpage for information sharing among the regulators

*For financing the implementation of the various activities

and projects under the SAP, a core fund was created from

the extra-budgetary contributions made by the SATRC

members

*SATRC Members contributes voluntarily to the fund for

implementation when a new phase of SAP is adopted by

the SATRC

*Completed SAP Phases:

*Currently, SATRC is implementing SAP Phase IV for the

implementation period of 2012 – 2014 with core budget of

USD 113,400.

SAP Phases Implementation

Year

Core Budget

(USD)

SAP Phase I 2005 - 2007 86,200

SAP Phase II 2008 - 2009 141,000

SAP Phase III 2010 - 2011 164,000

*SAP Phase IV adopted at the 13th SATRC Meeting in 2012 at

Kathmandu, Nepal for the period of 2012 – 2014

*Under SAP Phase IV, two WGs are working:

*Working Group on Policy, Regulation and Services: to deal with

the issues related to policy, regulation and different aspects of

telecommunication services. Previous WG on Policy and Regulation

and Network and Services are merged

*Working Group on Spectrum: to deal with the issues related to

spectrum management, monitoring, sharing and coordinated

efficient use of spectrum for different service in the region

*Work Items assigned to the Working Groups:

*The Working Groups have a chairman and enlisted experts

from each of the 9 SATRC Members

* Working Groups meet physically at least once a year to

discuss the detail of works of the work items, and to

review the progress of the works

Brief on SATRC Working Group on Policy, Regulation and Services: Work Scopes

Work Item 1: Strategies for migration to IPv6

Work Scopes: Status of IPv6 deployment in SATRC countries Study of best international practices for migration to IPv6 Identifying issues (regulatory, technical, financial etc.) for migration to IPv6 Prepare best practices and roadmap for migration to IPv6 in SATRC countries

Work Item 2: Rationalization of tax structure in Telecommunication

Work Scopes: To assess the policy and legal framework for taxation including the direct and indirect taxes

applicable for telecom sector value chain/ecosystem in the SATRC countries

To estimate the contribution of telecom sector value chain/ecosystem on the GDP and total government tax in the SATRC countries

To estimate the total FDI in the telecom sector/value chain/ecosystem in the SATRC countries

To assess the impact of taxation on the development of the telecom sector sector/value chain/ecosystem in the SATRC countries

To assess the Impact of taxation on the tariff, service adoption and QoS of telecom services

Brief on SATRC Working Group on Policy, Regulation and Services: Work Scopes

Work Item 3: Roaming in SATRC Countries

Work Scopes: Status on the current roaming arrangement including tariff within the Member countries

International and Regional initiatives and best practises for rationalization of roaming tariff

Analysis and Recommendation for way forward

Work Item 4: Sustainable broadband network for SATRC countries: Addressing the Issues of Interconnection and Backhaul Capacity

Work Scopes: Detail of the broadband backhaul transmission network of SATRC countries, based on the

case studies provided by the countries;

Suggestions regarding efficient broadband transmission network;

Present capacity of the broadband networks of SATRC countries and recommendation to face the challenge of future growth;

Analysis of the domestic and international interconnection scenario and recommendation for way forward

Brief on SATRC Working Group on Policy, Regulation and Services: Work Scopes

Work Item 5: Application and Services in Broadband Network

Work Scopes: Overall assessment of demand for broadband services in the country -segment wise,

bandwidth wise, and application wise.

To identify the most used services currently provided by broadband service provide in rural and urban areas.

Enhancing BB applications and services in SATRC countries

Promote applications focusing on e-government, e-health, e-businesses, e-learning in SATRC member countries

Status of applications/services in the local languages in member countries

Initiatives to promote applications and services specially in the rural areas

Brief on SATRC Working Group on Policy, Regulation and Services: Work Scopes

Work Items 6: Growth of Value Added Services

Work Scopes: Value Chain for the provision of VASs.

Regulation of VAS in SATRC Countries

International experience.

Factors affecting the growth of VAS Industry

Recommendations

Brief on SATRC Working Group on Spectrum

Work Item 1: Harmonized Use of the 700MHz Digital Dividend Band in SATRC Countries

Work Scopes: To study current allocation of 700MHz band in SATRC countries

To study digital switchover plan in SATRC countries

To study the worldwide utilization of the 700MHz band

To suggest a harmonized approach for SATRC countries for ensuring maximum benefit

Work has been completed on this work item and SATRC Members adopted a Joint Announcement on use of 700 MHz band

Work Item 2: Study of Regional Requirements and Availability of Spectrum for Mobile Broadband

Work Scopes: To survey the requirement of spectrum for Mobile Broadband in SATRC countries

To identify the bands for Mobile Broadband

Study the use of those bands in SATRC countries

Suggest harmonized approach to make the spectrum bands available for Mobile Broadband

Brief on SATRC Working Group on Spectrum

Work Item 3: Market Based Methods of Spectrum Allocation in SATRC Countries

Work Scopes:

To study the current spectrum management approach in SATRC countries

To analyse the pros and cons of the market based method with examples

To analyse the possible liberalisation of spectrum in certain bands such as 800 MHz, 900 MHz etc.

Suggesting way forward to SATRC countries

Work Item 4: Cross Border Coordination Work Scopes:

Proposing report/Guideline for implementation of mutual arrangements among SATRC member and solve interference , particularly for Mobile bands

Work on this item has been completed which provides a template of mutual arrangements to solve the interference problem

Brief on SATRC Working Group on Spectrum

Work Item 5: Sharing Information on the Use of Frequency in SATRC Countries

Work Scopes:

APT Frequency Information System (AFIS) has been developed to share information on frequency use in APT member countries. Purpose of this work item is to facilitate the availability of information from SATRC countries in the AFIS

To assist SATRC Members to develop a smart frequency information management system

To take step by step approach and necessary coordination to share the information of frequency use data

*Currently, works are at the final stage and final outcomes will at the 15th SATRC Meeting scheduled to be held from 05 to 07 August 2014 in Bhutan

*SATRC-15 will adopt the next SAP (SAP-V)

*The work plan will include subject and issues of interest to the region

*Some of the current work items are expected to be continued with revisions to suit the needs of the future

* Totally new work items are also expected