By Gerry Oberst

Astudy group of the International Tele-communication Union Development Bureau (ITU-D) will release a report on satellite regulation in developing countries that offers a cornucopia of information on satellite communications matters around the globe.

Several years in the making, the report was unveiled by its drafting group at a meeting of ITU-D Study Group 1 in September of this year. The drafters proposed that the report should be used in ITU seminars, workshops and sessions already scheduled on development programs. The report could lead to further work and information for the World Telecommunications Development Conference in 2006.

This draft may also undergo further changes. As with similar projects, the report currently bears not only the mark of being written by a committee, but by a committee of committees, as its information comes from many sources. What may be a stylistic drawback, however, is a substantive advantage because the report contains many diverse facts and background items, all useful to the satellite community.

As a measure of the efforts that went into the report, 63 ITU member administrations responded to a questionnaire from the drafting group. The group held meetings in Marrakesh and in Hong Kong and sought contact with every major region of the world.

After an introduction on the satellite industry and its place in the world’s marketplace, a lengthy chapter on "satellite regulation today" launches into a comprehensive discussion of regulatory and policy trends. Along the way, the report reviews experiences on market access and identifies successful regulatory approaches.

Regional perspectives are a very useful aspect of the report. The European section describes efforts to harmonize among the many European countries using a "one stop shop" that could help with obtaining satellite licenses and authorizations from a single starting point. This section needs updating because the European OSS has floundered due to a lack of European country support. For instance, Germany has stubbornly insisted that no further resources should be placed into OSS efforts, arguing that national licensing is already sufficiently simplified and that funding for a pan-European database is not desirable.

Other elements of European simplified licensing for satellite networks and services are nicely highlighted, with emphasis on further goals for lighter regulation and exempting certain classes of satellite terminals from licensing altogether.

The section on CITEL, the Inter-American Telecommunications Commission representing 35 member states in the Americas, stresses substantial efforts to harmonize regulatory policies, in particular to grant earth station licenses.

The section on Africa notes that the continent’s vast size and diversity has contributed to a trend of subregional groups forming economic and regulatory organizations. The report identifies initiatives from the Telecommunications Regulators’

Association of Southern Africa (TRASA) in sub-Saharan Africa, the West Africa Telecommunications Regulators Association (WATRA), a group called the East Africa Community and the Association of Regulators for Information and Communication Services of Eastern and Southern Africa (ARICEA). Just providing the background on these activities fosters a better understanding of regulatory initiatives.

Provision of cross-border satellite network solutions in Asia remains a "near impossibility," according to the report, due to regulatory barriers and the sheer scope of variations between this geographically dispersed region.

An effective tool in the report is the focus on certain case studies to show regulatory reform. For instance, the report showcases the regulatory regime of Norway for VSAT small terminal satellite networks as a model for expanding this market sector. It also notes the progress that India made after it reduced limits on satellite-based services– with measurable growth in satellite networks and also in Internet activity partially due to direct access by ISPs to competitive satellite bandwidth.

The report focuses heavily on licensing, which is the regulatory layer that often stymies satellite market growth. It stresses the value of independent regulatory authorities. It also describes effective equipment certification and type approval rules–an area that can be immensely frustrating for the importation of high-tech satellite gear.

Not all is rosy. About half of the surveyed countries still require space-segment providers to establish a legal or commercial presence in their country. An even higher proportion of the countries require a national presence for network service providers. The report argues this requirement increases cost and decreases efficiency, leading to higher prices for consumers. And almost a third of the countries still place foreign ownership conditions on satellite service providers.

The ITU-D report is information dense, with close to 100 pages of detail. It is linked closely to market access opportunities, which can and hopefully will aid regulators in devising more effective systems. By stressing the dynamic competitive environment that satellite-services can foster, this report can be a useful resource for the international satellite sector.

Gerry Oberst is a partner in the brussels office of the Hogan & Hartson law firm.