The convergence of media and telecoms: a challenge for regulators

In the early 1990s, many West African countries began to transform from one-party rule to democratic systems of government.

At this time Panos started its pioneering work on national policy in the region, by initiating discussions on the new laws and institutions needed for a pluralistic and free media – an essential component of democratic reform.

Today, a key policy challenge facing governments and other stakeholders is the ‘convergence’ of media and telecommunications. Digital technologies allow new combinations of communication services: telecommunications operators have moved into radio and TV services, and media operators are offering voice and data services.

It is not only the companies that are having to adapt to these possibilities. New technologies also raise many questions for the law-makers and institutions that deal with licensing and regulation.

For example, how can regulatory bodies – which already struggle to monitor traditional media – extend their remit to internet multimedia broadcasters? Will these regulators be able to regulate the electricity companies that will, in the near future, be delivering internet via the electricity infrastructure?

How should the licensing regime for new global operators be determined? Should – or indeed can – content originating from foreign companies be controlled, particularly when it is disseminated through the internet or by satellite?

Many African governments have not yet set up the laws and institutions needed to ensure that the media and information communication technologies (ICTs) work well together. Indeed many have not even established effective frameworks for ICTs alone.

In February 2006 Panos held a seminar in Cotonou, Benin, which for the first time brought together regional media and telecommunications regulators along with civil society and private sector stakeholders in West and Central Africa to discuss the issue of convergence.

Participants agreed that a long-term goal could be to establish a single regulatory body. But it seems this is a distant prospect, notably because some countries lack effective media or telecom regulatory frameworks.

And even when regulators are in place, they face issues around independence, insufficient capacity, and lack of experience. As a first step, regulators participating in the meeting showed their commitment by agreeing to maintain links and work together more closely.

The workshop was organised by the Centre for International ICT Policies for Central and West Africa (CIPACO) – a project of the Panos Institute West Africa, which aims to strengthen the capacity of stakeholders to participate in the governance of ICTs, notably at the international level.

The West African Telecommunications Regulators Assembly, African Communication Regulation Authority Network, and the Beninese media regulator Haute Autorité de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication were partners for the meeting.

> Full details of the seminar