REPORT OF WORKING GROUP 8: COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES PRICING AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS

Transcription

1 Doc No. WG - 8 REPORT OF WORKING GROUP 8: COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES PRICING AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS 1.0 Introduction On 2 nd 04 th December 2013, the EACO Working Group 8 held its first meeting at the EACO headquarters in Kigali Rwanda. 2.0 Summary of Decisions 2.1 Review of Terms of Reference of the Working Group Members reviewed the Terms of Reference for the working group as prescribed by the 20 th EACO Congress and noted the following: 1. Members agreed that the scope of their study would focus on the communications services in the area of Telecommunications, Broadcasting, Postal and Courier. 2. Members agreed to reorganize the ToRs into three key thematic areas, namely; (i) Studies and Market Analysis (ii) Reporting and (iii) Coordination. All items in the working group 8 ToRs were therefore reorganized and captured under the above three key thematic areas. 3. The secretariat proposed that Regional Roaming be incorporated in the ToRs of the working group 8. This proposal follows the findings and recommendations of EALA (November 2013) on the high roaming prices in the region. The proposal was adopted by the working group. 4. Proposed removal of elements related to Network Security and Privacy which were included in the ToR item IV from the scope of the work of the working group. It was observed that the working group 5 is best suited to deal with these elements as they fall under its scope. A liaison will be sent to working group 5 regarding this matter. 1

2 2.2 Action Plan An action plan was prepared for the work of the working group as per the attached Annexure. 3.0 Conclusion 1. The EACO secretariat should sensitize member states and operators to have greater participation in the working group meetings. 2. EACO secretariat should consider; while sending invitations for the working group meetings; to copy individual members of the working groups. 3. The elements related to Network Security and Privacy, which were included in the ToR item IV, are removed from the scope of the work of this group. 4. EACO secretariat to involve the working group 8 during the design and planning stage of the development of the databank at EACO headquarters 5. Based on the concerns raised by the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) members, the EACO secretariat should initiate deliberate efforts to conduct a study on regional roaming charges. As the Assemblies would be meeting in Tanzania in June, the next physical meeting of this working group will take place before the assemblies. The exact date will be communicated to all members 4.0 Decision Expected/Request That the Executive Committee takes note of the deliberations of working group 8 and the agreed action plan of the group. Mr. Matano M. Ndaro Chairman, EACO Working Group 8 2

3 ANNEX 1: THE ACTION PLAN FOR WORKING GROUP 8 COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES PRICING AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS POLICY AND REGULATORY HARMONIZATION No. TERM OF REFERENCE ACTIVITIES DELIVERABLE TIME FRAME RESPONSIBLE PERSON/PARTY 1 Studies and market analysis Conduct studies and analysis on the communications market/industry in the EA region in order to establish the following; a. Regional interconnectivity Priority 1 June Mr. Lucas O. Mwalongo - TCRA Mr. Protais Kanyankore - RURA i. Regional connectivity, roaming pricing and their impact on communication services. b. Regional roaming pricing Priority 1 June Mr. Abdul Musoke UCC Ms. Nizeye Euphemie - c. Broadband pricing ii. Spectrum pricing (telecom and broadcasting) d. Framework for determining tariffs for infrastructure sharing a. Harmonized spectrum pricing Priority 2 December Mr. Abdul Musoke - UCC Mr. Victor Nkya TCRA Ms. Lilian Mwangoka TCRA Ms. Nizeye Euphemie - iii. Pricing of broadcasting signal distribution services a. Harmonized signal distribution pricing Priority 2 December Mr. Clemence Kichao TCRA 3

4 Mr. Lukas Musembi CCK iv. Competition issues within the communications sector a. Evaluation of the feasibility for a regional competition body b. Harmonized competition Priority 3 March 2015 Mr. Abdul Musoke - UCC v. Use of tele-traffic monitoring / management systems a. Impact on pricing and competition of the use of tele-traffic monitoring / management systems Mr Sunday Richard TCRA Mr. Mathieu Ntegano RURA Ms. Mercy Ndegwa Safaricom Kenya Mr. Sainath Naidu - SGS Ms. Barbra Sayuni - SGS Ms. Sayyida Mohamed - TCRA vi. Over the Top Technologies (OTT) a. Impact of over the top technologies and application in communication industry Priority 3 March 2015 Ms. Mercy Ndegwa Safaricom Kenya Ms. Lilian Mwangoka TCRA Mr. Jean de Dieu Imanishimwe - RURA vii. Costing and pricing models for basic postal services a. Harmonized costing and pricing models for basic postal services Priority 3 February 2015 Ms. Sayyida Mohamed TCRA Mr. Richard Tonui - CCK 4

5 viii. Progressive opening up of exclusivity areas of postal services (physical, electrical, financial) operation for private sector participation a. Framework for the gradual elimination of exclusivity of postal services provision Priority 3 February 2015 Ms. Sayyida Mohamed TCRA Mr. Richard Tonui - CCK 2 Reporting Develop a for collection, analysis and reporting/dissemination of regional Key Performance Indicators and statistics on the communication sector in East Africa. a. EAC communications data collection and reporting b. Databank Priority 1st March Mr. Mathieu Ntegano RURA 3 Coordination Coordinate, recommend and follow up the work of the relevant communication sector organisations. a. Draft recommendations and positions to specific organizations Continuous Mr. Protais Kanyankore - RURA 5