2.5 Convergence and Regulators

Platforms fulfilling different functions have traditionally been regulated differently for many reasons. For example, as illustrated in Module 6, a telecommunications platform has been regulated in a different manner than a broadcasting platform. In the context of convergence, where a single platform is capable of delivering all forms of electronic communications, should separate regulatory bodies merge or remain distinct institutions? Or should there be one regulator for platforms and another for content?

To date, there is relatively little experience (with some notable exceptions) of addressing these questions and quite possibly there are more multi-utility regulators (which include telecommunications) than “converged” regulators. In Malaysia, the issue was addressed at an early date. The Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 established the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) as the sole regulator of telecommunications, broadcasting, and computing industries. However, while the EU is implementing a “future-proof” single regulatory framework for electronic communications, only four member states out of 25 (at 31 December 2006) have what could be regarded as “converged” regulatory bodies.[1] These are Finland, Italy, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom.

The OECD distinguishes between regulatory bodies dealing with:

telecommunications;
broadcasting carriage;
broadcasting spectrum allocation; and
content.

Among OECD members, only Australia and Iceland have single bodies dealing with all four forms of regulation.[2] For each of the EU countries listed above, at least one of the four regulatory functions lies outside the “converged” regulator.

In a converged environment the absence of a converged regulator allows for the possibility of unequal regulatory treatment of different platforms delivering overlapping content or unequal regulatory treatment of different content delivered over any platform. Here there is the issue of technology-neutral regulation, meaning that the regulatory treatment of a particular service, regarding authorization, spectrum, interconnection, universal service, and numbering, is the same irrespective of the technology used to deliver it. Convergence poses challenges to both the structure of regulatory bodies and the instruments they use.