Regulator asks how it should regulate telecoms?

Friday 11 November 2016

The regulator is asking for views on how the telecoms sector in Jersey should be regulated in the future.

CICRA is finalising a new telecoms strategy, and wants input from businesses and other interested parties, given how much the sector is changing.

CICRA Chief Chief Executive, Michael Byrne, said the final strategy would be heavily influenced by the policy direction set by the States in both Jersey and Guernsey which was key to guiding what developments the Islands should steer towards and which should be avoided:

“Use of portable devices already goes beyond voice, web and messaging and the amount and type of spectrum capacity to come is well beyond anything seen previously. With it will come new services; what we now receive through fixed wire networks could be matched or exceeded by what could be available wirelessly. The implications of that are profound,” he said.

“The pace of change, the innovation involved and the support required to see these changes to fruition make predicting the future landscape difficult. What is clear is that there needs to be a willingness to view the changes as holistically as we can and to be reasonably prepared and adaptable to take full advantage of fluid changes – avoiding a reactive, defensive response to each change in isolation.”

“For CICRA, the States of Guernsey and Jersey and the operators, there are questions that need to be addressed now to ensure the right regulatory framework is ready in the future.

“For instance: beyond download and upload speeds and latency (delays) what will the next level of demand be? What do technology developments mean for the type of competition that will thrive or wither in small island economies?

“In order to be open to this, what’s needed is a robust, future-looking regulatory plan in the face of uncertainty over product development and speed of technologies. It has to be accepted that trade-offs will need to be made. In making those trade-offs the size of the market and communities we live in, and their unique cultures and values, must influence our expectations and priorities."