Established over 40 years ago, the International Institute of Communications (IIC) is the world's only independent membership organisation focused on policy and regulatory affairs in the telecommunications and media sectors worldwide.
Come October, more than 60 regulators from across the globe will convene in Singapore for the IIC?s annual International Regulators Forum, which will be hosted by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and the Media Development Authority (MDA). The International Regulators Forum covers the entire communications regulatory sector and offers an international perspective on national and global issues. The Forum will be followed by the IIC 2012 Annual Conference, which is expected to attract about 200 delegates from nearly 30 countries.
Mr Ed Richards, the Chief Executive of the United Kingdom Office of Communications and Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Singapore?s Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts are expected to deliver keynote speeches, with other regulators and industry representatives attending.
IIC President Mr Fabio Colasanti tells us more about the organisation and the decision to hold its flagship events in Singapore.
Tell us about the IIC and your role as President of the organisation?
The International Institute of Communications (IIC) is a long-established policy forum which is still unique in the way that it?combines the worlds of?telecommunications, media and digital media policy and regulation, and provides a global framework for analysis and debate on the critical forces shaping communications markets.
The Institute, a membership organisation, runs events and publishes a journal, Intermedia, which is also in its 40th?year. It also convenes the International Regulators Forum, which is a closed-door event for regulators. Both the IIC?s Annual Conference and the International Regulators Forum will be held in Singapore this year.
I came to the IIC just over two years ago, having been Director General of the Directorate-General for Information Society and Media, European Commission, and I am halfway through my first term. The IIC structure is that I head a Board of Directors who address the governance and fiduciary interests of the Institute. We also have a Board of Trustees who act in an advisory capacity. Both Boards have wide international membership, reflecting the IIC?s own reach.
What are some of the key areas that the IIC is currently focusing on?
As the IIC has a wide remit, it is able to follow trends in the communications industry as a whole and is not restricted to any one sector. This means that topics can be addressed in a holistic manner, and our participants have found this to be an asset.
This year, we looked at a multitude of issues and one that recurs is digital transition. A number of our members are developing countries and many of them are able to leapfrog whole areas of the analogue experience. We can help them address the issues that they may encounter along the way. Another area that is important is spectrum. This is an area that affects telecommunications and broadcasting and the IIC is in a unique position to facilitate the debate across the sectors. These are just two examples of areas we have been looking at.
Why did IIC decide to hold the 2012 International Regulators Forum and Annual Conference in Singapore?
We were invited by the IDA and the MDA, who will host the International Regulators Forum ahead of the conference. Singapore has a very advanced communications system and a highly developed and innovative regulatory system. The Institute has been in Singapore twice before and it is of course a key country in a region which continues to expand quickly even as growth in other parts of the world is slowing.?
What are the aims and objectives of the International Regulators Forum?
The International Regulators Forum is unique in that it is a completely closed meeting where sectoral regulators can discuss emerging policy topics and the instruments required to manage them. This year?s meeting will feature senior speakers from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Americas. The aim of the meeting is to allow participants to share experiences and debate policy solutions in an open and frank way. The forum is a closed one, which provides a conducive environment for a frank discussion among the regulators.?
What will be the highlights of the IIC 2012 Annual Conference?
We will have truly international participation with a wide range of views presented and opportunities to network at a senior level. We will cover topics such as broadband, spectrum, always-on content and governance in the plenary sessions and delve a bit deeper into them during the breakout sessions. The idea is to explore the issues from a business and policy perspective.
Take the session on broadband, for example. It will cover a wide variety of very pressing topics, such as: How does the so-called Internet-of-Things affect privacy? What measures can be put in place? How can the regulator ensure that regulation does not have a chilling effect on innovation and development? Are the models that we used in the pre-digital age applicable still in an age of over-the-top content and can the provider still argue for ?dumb pipes??
This is just one example but I think what it illustrates is that convergence is truly here and this creates issues across the industry, within society and also for regulation and regulatory structures.
What are some of the things the IIC hopes to achieve through this year's forum as well as the conference?
It is important that participants from both events go away feeling that they have learnt something and that they have had the opportunity to air their views and have their questions answered ? at least to some extent. Our task is to promote high quality, thoughtful debate but we are not just a talking shop ? we want people to come away with new ideas or, at the very least, new considerations.
Source: https://www.ida.gov.sg/insg/post/Top-communications-regulators-to-meet-in-Singapore.aspx
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