Regulating ICT convergence

Simpson, Seamus (author)

The Broadcasting, Information Technology and Telecommunications sectors have in recent years been the subject of notable transformation, one important feature of which is their coming closer together in a number of ways - it is now commonplace to speak of a new hybrid sector, Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs). This convergence is of considerable interest to policy-makers in industry and government at the national and international level, as well as the academic community and, in particular, oneof the key questions raised concerns how to regulate for such convergence. Focusing on the European Union (EU) context, this article argues that in recent years the telecommunications element of ICTs has been subject to changein the form of both liberalisation and re-regulation to the international level, which has been justified by numerous arguments, and indeed in some quarters vaunted as an appropriate model to be applied to ICTs as a whole. This article suggests that whilst the telecommunications policy model can provide some important pointers for the regulation of the ICT sector, it cannot provide a full and adequate response to what many see as oneof the most important challenges facing policy-makers across the European Union. Specifically, certain specific features of broadcasting - most notably the nature of its public service remit - set it apart from telecommunications.Furthermore, the regulatory arrangements and structures developed at the EU level for telecommunications have only very recently been put in place and there is evidence that they are facing certain implementationdifficulties. Overall, it is argued that in the short to medium term, only limited regulatory change of the kind witnessed in telecommunications will occur in ICTs as a whole.

• Language: English
• Keywords: informacijska tehnologija, komunikacijska tehnologija, informacijska politika, medijska politika, Evropska unija, regulacija, integracijski procesi, povezovanje, konvergenca, information technology, communication technology, information policy, media policy, European union, regulation, process of integration, connection, convergence
• Work type: Not categorized
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Year: 1999
• Number of pages: Str. 49-66
• Numbering: Vol. 6, no. 3
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-74735
• UDC: 659.2
• ISSN on article: 1318-3222
• COBISS.SI-ID: 19256925
• Publication date in RUL: 21.12.2015

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Javnost
• Shortened title: Javnost
• Publisher: Taylor&Francis
• ISSN: 1318-3222
• COBISS.SI-ID: 40119808

Secondary language

• Language: Unknown

Abstract

Sektorji radiodifuzije, informacijske tehnologije in telekomunikacij so v zadnjem času doživeli velike spremembe, med katerimi je pomembno njihovo zbliževanje, tako da danes običajno govorimo o novem hibridnem sektorju informacijskih in komunikacijskih tehnologij (IKT). Povezovanje je zelo zanimivo za oblikovalce politik v gospodarstvu in vladi na nacionalni in mednarodni ravni, prav tako pa tudi za akademsko skupnost. Eno ključnih vprašanj zadeva regulacijo povezovanja. S poudarkom na Evropsko unijo avtor ugotavlja, da se je v zadnjem obdobju telekomunikacijski element IKT spremenil zaradi liberalizacije in re-regulacije do mednarodne ravni, kar je bilo izčrpno utemeljevano in v nekaterih krogih povzdigovano v najbolj ustrezen model za IKT v celoti. Avtor meni, da telekomunikacijski model sicer ponuja nekaj usmeritev za regulacijo celotnega sektorja IKT, vendar ne more zagotoviti popolnega odgovora na najpomembnejši izziv, s katerim se soočajo oblikovalci politike v Evropski uniji. Nekatere posebnosti radiodifuzije, zlasti njen značaj javne službe, jo ločujejo od telekomunikacij. Nadalje so bili regulacijski ukrepi in strukture, ki so bili v EU pripravljeni za telekomunikacije, šele nedavno uveljavljeni in očitno je, da pri tem doživljajo težave. Avtor zato meni, da se bodo na celotnem področju IKT kratko- in srednjeročno uveljavile le nekatere regulacijske spremembe, značilne za telekomunikacije.