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Policy and Regulatory Module: Web Platforms and Resources

  • Balancing Act News Update and Archive Balancing Act Weekly [From their Website] “Balancing Act’s News Update is a weekly e-letter (in English) and a fortnightly e-letter (in French) that goes out to over 9,000 subscribers. It covers telecoms, Internet and computing and is read by decision-makers in: operators, Government, regulatory agencies, equipment vendors and consultants.” Although a commercial enterprise, their newsletter can be accessed on line for free and the information is current, of high quality with numerous policy and regulation related articles. The full archive is also available. They also publish reports for sale.  Live as of October 31st 2008

  • ELDIS: Resource Guide in ICT for development Institute of Development Studies Regularly updated. Eldis is a resource to share development, policy, practice and research and is run by the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, UK. This resource guide (Eldis is organised by resource guides and by Dossiers) offers annotated summaries on numerous policy and regulatory related reports, many with a focus on poverty. It is updated regularly, and includes sub-themes on ICT Policy and ICT and Poverty.  Live as of October 31st 2008

  • Equitable access to ICT Infrastructure: Papers and commentaries APC 2007 and ongoing This set of resources is part of a series on equitable access to ICT infrastructure commissioned by APC. A series of papers and commentaries cover the following themes: business models, policy and regulation, tools and technologies and people, networks and capabilities. Live as at November 3rd 2008

  • Free & Open Source Software Portal UNESCO 203-2005 This is a UNESCO portal, part of their main website. It does not appear to have been updates much since 2005, and a search quickly leads into more general UNESCO concerns in communication. But it has some useful content.  Live as at October 31st 2008

  • Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA) The Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA) promotes the use of Free and Open Source software in Africa by bringing multi-stakeholder partners together for the development of African societies using open source software. < http:>Live as at November 4th 2008

  • ICT Policies and Studies Communication Initiative (CI) “Theme” Website with Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) Regularly updated. This is a thematic “window” into CI resources about ICT policies. Its content include strong sections on ICT4D policies. The CI Website also has an ICT4D section, ranging well beyond the policy and regulatory area, but is worth searching for additional material of relevance.  .  Live as at October 31st 2008

  • ICT Regulation Toolkit InfoDev and ITU 2007 initially but regularly updated. Although an individual publication, it is very well organised as a Web based resource with Live as at links to a very wide variety of resources. Taken as a whole it is a comprehensive guide for regulators, and includes sections on all aspects of regulation, as well as innumerable Practice Notes and further references. Live as at October 31st 2008

  • International Open Source Network International Open Source Network: UNDP Resources on open source relevant to Asai and pacific region, including some policy analysis. < http:>Live as at October 31st 2008

  • Regulatory Forum, The International Telecommunications Union Regularly updated. The ITU's Regulatory Forum contains some useful resources for regulators and those interested in the topics, including links to relevant reports (e.g. see links to reports on universal service). The annual Global Symposium on Regulators (GSR) produces guidelines for regulators on different topics, including most recently on infrastructure sharing. Live as at October 31st 2008

  • Studies, Toolkits, Handbooks and Knowledge Maps infoDev Various dates Although some are dated, the resources available at the infoDev website include many useful policy and regulation related report, briefings, handbooks and so forth. They cover areas from universal access to open sources and open access.  Live as at October 31st 2008

  • World Dialogue on Regulation for Networks Economies RegulateOnline.org: World Dialogue on Regulation for Network Economics Last updated 2007. Describes itself as “concerned with regulation and governance for network economies. We conduct research, facilitate online dialogue and discussion among experts, and publish and distribute papers, reports and other relevant information.” This Website contains a high quality set of resources developed by partners worldwide. Regulate online is a central activity of LIRNE.NET (Learning Initiatives on Reforms for Network Economies), a worldwide independent consortium of ICT research organisations. Live as at October 31st 2008

Individual Reports 

The following comprise a selection of reports, some of which can be found on the websites above. 

General Reports

  • World Summit on the Information Society Stocktaking Report. International Telecommunications Union 2008 This fully updated report on the 2005 version is a compendium of activities that fall understand the Action Lines of the WSIS. The introduction is a useful overview of activity in the area, and there are numerous short descriptions given of ICT and e-government strategies, infrastructure policies, policies to promote ICTs spread among the differential Action Lines. Descriptions are short and uncritical, but with some links to other resources.  Live as at October 31st 2008

  • Universal Access Community-based Networks and Innovative Technologies: New models to serve and empower the poor Seán Ó Siochrú, Bruce Girard UNDP 2005 The makes the case for community-owned networks, as cooperative enterprises offering voice, data, internet and other media services to their communities, including detailed policy recommendations and a number of commissioned case studies. At the website there are also feasibilities studies in four east African countries: Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.Live as at November 3rd 2008

  • Diversifying Participation in Network Development: Case Studies & Research from WDR Research Cycle 3. Amy Mahan, Bill Melody (eds) RegulateOnline.org: World Dialogue on Regulation for Network Economics 2007 A useful set of case studies and analyses covering Village Phone (Chapter 6); Smart subsidies in Nepal (Chapter 7); Micro telecos in Latin America and Caribbean (Chapter 8).  Live as at October 31st 2008

  • ICT Infrastructure in Emerging Asia Policy and Regulatory Roadblocks Rohan Samarajiva, Ayesha Zainudeen (eds) LIRNEasia. SAGE 2008 Section 3: Regulation: To Stifle or Enable focuses, in four chapters, on many aspects of regulation in Asia including an analysis of the roll-out of fibre backbone by BSNL and the role of the regulator; a critical review of India's universal access policy and of access deficit charges; and an examination of the least subsidy auctions in Nepal, comparing it with Latin America. A final section includes three responses from high level practitioners with divergent viewpoints.  Live as at October 31st 2008

  • Information Society for the South: Vision or Hallucination ITeM 2005 This collection of essays includes two that bring a 'public goods' perspective to the issue of universal access to ICTs, (Accuosto and Johnson; and Fernando Prada) and a third that argues the case for a global universal access fund (Carron).  Live as at November 3rd 2008

  • New Models for Universal Access in Latin America Paul A. Stern, David Townsend Regulatel/World Bank/ECLAC August 2006 The objectives of this report are: “(i) review and assess current and planned universal access programmes in the 19 countries; (ii) estimate the market efficiency and universal access gaps, and the public sector investment/subsidy needed in order to reduce the universal access gap; (iii) identify new models for universal access programs and provide concrete policy recommendations; (iv) assist policy-makers and regulators worldwide to develop a new generation of universal access programs and policies based on the experience of Latin America.” It goes a long way towards achieving these. Summary Report and Full Report. Live as at October 31st 2008

  • Universal Access Funds. Update Intelecon December 2007 This consists primarily of two tables summarising description of universal access funds around the world. The first describes the fund status, funding sources, how it is administered, and what the money is spent in a total of 46 developing countries in all global regions. The second table offers a little more detail on ten of these. Live as at October 31st 2008

National ICT Strategies, ICT4d Strategies, e-Strategies

  • E-Governance in Africa: from Theory to Action. A Handbook on ICTs for Local Governance. Gianluca Misuraca. Africa World Press/IDRC. 2007 The report includes case studies, analysis and recommendation regarding e-governance at local policy level, including policy related aspects. Case Studies are from Senegal, Uganda, South Africa and Uganda. Live as at October 31st 2008

e-Governance & e-Government

  • APDIP Final 2007 Quite a good set of reports on e-governance in the Asia Pacific region, including case studies, an primer and analyses. .  Live as at October 31st 2008

  • ICT Policy Formulation and e-Strategy Development: A Comprehensive Guidebook, UNDP Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme (APDIP) 2005 As the title says, this is a comprehensive guidebook on how to develop an ICT policy and e-strategy. It is “people-centred” and covers sectoral strategies, including e-government, e-business and e-commerce, e-health, ICTs applied to learning at all levels, ICTs for scientific research and development, and ICTs for local and community development.Live as at October 31st 2008

Broadband backbone and regional cooperation

  • Broadband for Africa: Policy for Promoting the Development of Backbone Networks, Mark Williams. InfoDev and World Bank 2008 A report outlining in some detail the current situation for broadband service and Infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa, makes the case for their introduction, and offers policy and regulatory suggestions to achieve it. Live as at October 31st 2008

  • Multisector Utility Regulation R. Samarajiva, A. Mahan, & A. Barendse, WDR Discussion Paper 0203 2003 A useful early paper on conduit sharing and multisector regulation Live as at October 31st 2008

  • Stimulating Investment in Network Development: Roles for Regulators; Case studies and research from World Dialogue on Regulation Research Cycle 2; A.K. Mahan, W.H. Melody (Editors). RegulateOnline.org: World Dialogue on Regulation for Network Economics 2005. Focusing on the issue3 of network investment, this volume contains seven national case studies, analyses of a variety of issues form radio to interconnection and regulator websites; and an afterword on pro-poor pro-market ICT policy and regulation. Live as at October 31st 2008

  • Open Access Models Options for Improving Backbone Access in Developing Countries (with a Focus on Sub-Saharan Africa) Spintrack infoDev. 2005 Although developments have overtaken its specific focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, this influential report is still a good introduction to policy in open access models in backbone access. Live as at October 31st 2008

  • Telecommunications Challenges in Developing Countries: Asymmetrical Interconnection Charges for Rural Areas Andrew Dymand World Bank Working Paper No. 27 2004 . Makes a case for the use of asymmetrical interconnection cha5rges for rural telecom operators, and outlines steps towards implementing them in practice..

  • Towards an African e-Index: ICT access and usage across 16 African countries Alison Gillwald and Christoph Stork LINK Centre, Witwatersrand University 2006 This summarises the extensive and ongoing analytic and survey work of the ResearchICTAfrica team into trends, policy and regional development in ICTs in Africa. Live as at October 31st 2008

Broadcast Media

  • Broadcasting, Voice and Accountability: A Public Interest Approach to Policy, Law and Regulation. Buckley, Steve, Kreszentia Duer, Toby Mendel and Seán Ó Siochrú 2008 World Bank Institute and University of Michigan Press. The handbook gives innumerable examples of policy law and regulation in the public interest, and contains a lengthy (nearly 120 pages) set of annotated links to resources at the back. The first section also includes a review of policy and regulatory trends in broadcasting. Live as at October 31st 2008

  • Fighting Poverty: Utilising Community Radio in a Digital Age AMARC 2008 A mixed set of resources on community media and poverty, mixed in both form (there are video and audio clips included) and content (a mixture of short pieces, resource documents etc.). A number of items are relevant to policy on community radio. Live as at November 4th 2008.

 

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