Program :: Bojan Bostjancic /Plenary Session I, Telecommunications Policy as a Development Instrument

Abstract

Telecommunications Policy as a Development Instrument

Mr President, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my great honour, as representative of Slovenia's Ministry of the Information Society (MIS), to be able to participate in this meeting. I am delighted to be able to attend this gathering after the successful signature of a Statement of Intent (SoI), that the SEE member states have adopted in June 2002 during the EMCIS conference in Ljubljana.

Gradual formation of Information society brings radical changes in the modern world. Most of countries understand what means lagging behind those countries that are successfully implementing the information and telecommunications technologies into the modification of their economy and society as a whole. They understand that this enables their citizens to participate actively in the development processes on all levels of their activities. When comparing Slovenia with the latter countries there are some information society's indicators showing the lagging of Slovenia behind the average of EU countries. But certain resources (for instance EITO 2000) show that Slovenia assigns a substantial share of its GDP to the information and telecommunications technologies (practically the highest share per inhabitant among the pre-accession countries in the year 2000, but this amount is still below the average of EU member states). The distribution of investments is mainly in favour of infrastructure and not of use of electronic information services and content.

Due to this lag and unbalanced structure of investment in the areas of development and use of information and telecommunications technologies (ITcT) the Government of the Republic of Slovenia has in the autumn 2000 recognised the extreme developmental importance of the information society not only in relation to ITcT but also its horizontal importance regarding all ministries within its competence. The information society was as a horizontal priority development task included in the National Development Programme and in January 2001 MIS was established.

One of MIS's priorities was the adoption of a new harmonized law on telecommunications, which would derogate monopolies and create the necessary conditions for the development of the competitive telecommunications market. The law on telecommunications was adopted in May 2001. It is a systemic law that completes the reform of the telecommunications services market and provides the legal framework for harmonising this area with the acquis communautaire. The law liberalises the provision of telecommunications services and the construction of networks, and facilitates the access to networks for all players under the same conditions, with prices being formulated on the basis of cost. Universal services are defined as a minimum package of telecommunications services of a specific quality to which all users should have access at their own request at the affordable price, irrespective of where they live or do business. The obligation to provide such services is also defined. The law regulates the management of scarce natural resources such as radio frequencies, the numbering space and the right of way. It also established the Telecommunications, Broadcasting and Postal Agency of the Republic of Slovenia as a politically and financially independent regulator of the telecommunications market, and thus provided a basis for the transparent and impartial functioning of the market. The law guarantees protection for users of telecommunications services, and provides a legal framework for founding the Broadcasting Council, which is the body responsible for monitoring the telecommunications market, providing opinions and recommendations regarding the development of and competition on the telecommunications market.

As a result of changes in legislation and performance of the independent regulator the gradually improvement of the accessibility of telecommunications networks and services is provided. The equal opportunity for new operators was set up in fields where there was traditionally a monopoly, such as line leasing, VoIP services, fixed voice telephony services, internet access over ADSL network; while of course market liberalisation in principle leads to price cuts, which we have had the opportunity to observe with the arrival of competitors in mobile telephony.

However, to put it rather simply, the telecommunications regulator's primary objective is to enable to users relevant telecommunications services at the affordable price. Following this objective the European Commission has formulated its position, namely ensuring that all users have the possibility of obtaining basic telecommunications services at the affordable price independent by their geographical position. This position was formulated in order to avoid a two-tier society or, to put it picturesquely, a digital divide between those who have access to new services and those who do not.

Notwithstanding the aforementioned positive changes brought to the Slovenian market by the new telecommunications law, in connection with the philosophy of the digital divide we can say that telecommunications services are lagging somewhat behind the needs of the people and business, and that provision of telecommunications services is concentrated in economically stronger regions. Therefore one of the MIS's most important projects is to improve the telecommunications infrastructure in certain local environments where it has not developed to the same extent as in the capital and other urban areas. The MIS is approaching this problem from the point of view of encouraging economic growth in rural areas. That is to say that modern infrastructure can generate new business opportunities in local environments, can increase the competitive abilities of existing lines of business and create new lines and better-paid jobs, can contribute to reducing the draining-away of personnel, and can have a positive affect on the local community's awareness of development and business opportunities. In any case improving the level of telecommunications infrastructure in local environments is a very important element in reducing the gap between the developed and less-developed areas in each country.

Of course we may not ignore the extreme importance of telecommunications for the establishment of efficient international economical cooperation, especially for the cooperation with regions. This is the reason for Slovenia to endeavour for planning and construction of modern telecommunications networks in neighbouring countries that will encourage economical cooperation among them. Harmonious development of telecommunications networks and services in all countries of the region is a pre-condition for their effective synergetic operation. The key element for such development is a corresponding liberalisation of services and networks. Although there is only a short period after the derogation of monopoly in the field of telecommunications services and after the establishment of the independent regulatory authority we believe, that Slovenia has enough experience to be able to support successfully the liberalisation processes in the countries of the region. Slovenia has already cooperated with these countries in formulation of legal frameworks, in the design and construction of radio frequency, spectrum monitoring and in the acquisition of know-how and has exchanged experience regarding the liberalisation of telecommunications networks and services.

Mr President, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am convinced that this meeting here in Belgrade will be successful and that the implementation of the regional plan eSEEurope Agenda for the Development of the Information Society and its adoption in this conference will mean a significant progress not only for SEE countries but also for the broader European region.

Thank you.