Experts Seek Regulators To Ensure Level Playing Field

The tidal wave of global telecommunications liberalisation is one that few countries can or should resist, but it will not eliminate the need for regulation, government and industry officials said yesterday.

There were differences at an Asia Telecom 97 forum over how much regulation was needed and the ways to administer it, but there was general agreement that it would not disappear.

Its becoming clear this is a path all must walk, a top US communications official said of the inexorable pressure to privatise and deregulate telephone and other telecoms markets.

US Federal Communications Commission commissioner Susan Ness said liberalisation had shown its effectiveness in promoting efficiency, better services and lower prices.

Many decisions are best left to the market, not to the regulators, Ness said.

However, she said: The road to competition is not always straight or smooth.

Regulators needed to ensure there was a level playing field with fair and open procedures for new and old entrants; that older firms did not take advantage of their position; and that an easing of rules did not result in consolidation instead of competition, Ness said.

Competition takes an awful lot of work, and a lot of time, she said.

Thai Satellite Telecommunications and South-East Asia Iridium chief Piyabutra Vasudhara said the worldwide regulatory body, the International elecommunication Union (ITU), was important in setting standards and assigning frequencies.