Status:
IGF Theme(s) for workshop: Access and Diversity
Main theme question address by workshop: Question 3: How is the increased demand for more bandwidth?
Concise description of the proposed workshop:
The proposed workshop will discuss the regulatory challenges that face developing countries and emerging markets as they seek to increase and improve Internet access, and the regulatory strategies by which those challenges can be overcome, The workshop will pay particular attention to mechanisms by which regulatory incentives can increase Internet accessibility and availability in rural, agricultural, outlying, and underserved communities. Panelists will address the role of national communications regulators in promoting competition and ensuring access to new market entrants, and their role in forming and informing public policy on the deployment of critical Internet infrastructure, including Internet Exchange Points, the Domain Name System, and mobile broadband. The role of regulators in shaping an open and competitive marketplace that nonetheless nurtures the development of local content will be discussed in detail,
The challenges, strategies, models and practices that apply to developing countries addressing these complex issues form the crux of the proposed workshop. The panelists have direct personal experience with regulatory reform in dozens of developing countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, the Pacific Islands, Central Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe, and can speak to all aspects of the Internet regulatory domain, including governmental, intergovernmental, Internet technical community, and civil society points of view.
Background Paper:
Name of the organiser(s) of the workshop and their affiliation to various stakeholder groups:
Jane Coffin, Internet Society
Bill Woodcock, Packet Clearing House
Have you, or any of your co-organisers, organised an IGF workshop before?: Yes
Please provide link(s) to workshop(s) or report(s):
http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/component/chronocontact/?chronoformname=Workshops2011View&wspid=555#report
Provide the names and affiliations of the panellists you are planning to invite:
Bevil Wooding, moderator, Packet Clearing House
Chris Seecheran, Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago
Bernadette Lewis, Caribbean Telecommunications Union
Bill Woodcock, Packet Clearing House
Jane Coffin, Internet Society
Name of Remote Moderator(s):