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Plenary Session Three: Creating an Enabling Environment for Global Connectivity: Policy and Regulatory Issues

• The session emphasized the importance of recognizing dynamics of the relationships between the stakeholders in a communication policy environment, regulators, providers and users.

• Policies must be well-thought out, taking cognizance of the environment as well as the primary objective of facilitating communications policy in the most cost efficient manner.

• Country experiences revealed that best practices inevitably entailed liberalization and privatization, with due care being taken not to create private monopolies in place of state monopolies.

• The session was told of the importance of involving the private sector at all stages of policy formulation in the light of the important role it is poised to play given the receding role of the state -- often involuntarily due to resource shortages and unwillingness of partners to lend money to governments to undertake huge telecommunication infrastructure development.

• Reference was made to the fact that international traffic brings in the highest revenues for telecommunication systems in Africa, hence the tendency for state monopolies to endure. Fear of loss of these revenues had often led to foot-dragging by government bodies unsure of how policy changes would effect their financial base.