Telecommunication Market Regulation

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1. Introduction.

Regulation remains one of most important interventions in a liberalised telecommunications market. As more players come into the market and competition increases, regulation becomes even more necessary to bring in sanity. Although there are many critical components of regulation, this paper will discuss the following three components: Licensing and Authorisation, Interconnection and Universal Accessservice.

2. Licensing & Authorisation
Licensing and authorisation is mode of providing permission to an operator to provide services to a particular jurisdiction. It contains terms and conditions of operation. In a competitive communications market, an effective authorisation and licensing model is key to maintaining a fair and transparent operating environment as such efforts should be made that an appropriate mode of Licensing and authorisation followed and that convergence and conflict resolution issues are properly covered.
Modes of Licensing and Authorisation.
Licensing and authorisation regimes differ between countries, mostly basing on the level of development of the market. At one end of the spectrum are the open authorisation regimes where no form of government approval is required to start operating while at the other end are individual licensing regimes customised to the circumstances of the service provider and regulator.

• Individual Licensing
This is issued to an individual operator and contains detailed conditions that would apply to the specific operator. Usually this type of licence is offered under a competitive selection process.

• General Authorisation
This is when a regulator complies general conditions, rights and obligations and other regulatory conditions that would apply to all operators....

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...investment in non-commercially viable areas.
• Licensing Incentives
Regulators do also put in incentive clauses in the licence for operators to invest in hard to reach areas. This can be in form of interconnection charge policy.
• Universal access obligation
These are measures and target that are determined by the regulator and put as condition in the licensing process. The operator is therefore required to fulfil this obligation.

5. Conclusion
Regulation is critical in maintaining an equitable, competitive and profitable market while at the same time ensuring universal accessservice of telecommunication services. It is therefore important that regulators ensure that proper licensing, interconnection and universal access regulations are put in place and that they are properly aligned to the prevailing economic, geographic and demographic environment.

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