On October 2-3, 2006, infoDev, in partnership with the World Bank, AUSAID, Pacific Forum Secretariat and ITU, is organizing a two-day workshop on new technologies and their implications, rural access issues, and practical tools for policy makers and regulators. This workshop will be both a capacity building event and an opportunity for infoDev and its partner to better understand the unique regulatory and policy challenges facing the Pacific Region and to ensure these challenges are adequately reflected in the ICT Regulatory Toolkit.

Worldwide the ICT sector has undergone some dramatic changes in recent years, triggered by the market liberalization and privatization of state monopolies, and development of new technologies and the convergence of existing ones, leading now to a merging of markets and services. There have been notable improvements in affordability and access as a result of these changes.  Moreover, these developments affect traditional regulatory strategies, raising questions, such as how to deal with growing pressure to adopt converged licensing regimes and how to realize the potential of alternative network infrastructures such as WI-FI and WIMAX to bring both telecom services and high-speed Internet access to urban and rural areas.

Many countries in the Pacific Region have undertaken major reform in the information and communication technology (ICT), particularly in telecommunication, during the past ten years.  Today, policy makers and regulators are tackling issues such as ICT/Telecoms market liberalization, competition, technological convergence and the difficult problem of access in rural areas and outer islands.  This results in a critical need to provide capacity building support to regulators as they implement these changes.  As a tool to help regulators identify relevant questions and to provide them with answers and practical, guidance, infoDev has developed an ICT Regulatory Toolkit, in cooperation with the ITU.  The objective of the Toolkit is to provide regulators, operators, policy makers, sector experts, and the general public with the latest information on regulation strategies, best practices, and case studies.