Some of the leading figures in the telecoms industry had a message for regulators yesterday: provide guidance but don't stifle competition. That was the consensus view at a CEO roundtable yesterday featuring CEOs of leading vendors and services providers.
'We have a few bottlenecks and one is regulators,' said Dr Reza Jafari, moderator and chairman of the ITU Telecom World 2006 Forum Advisory Committee. 'We want them to promote progress,' he noted in his introduction.
Jafari also pointed out that despite the rapid growth in telecommunications in recent years, there are still four billion people in the world without access to information and communications technology. 'If you live in the right neighborhood you have access to ICT, but if you don't you'll feel the digital divide,' he said.
There is also an economic argument for light regulations, according to Sanjiv Ahuja, CEO of Orange UK, who pointed out that there is a strong correlation between GDP and mobility. 'It's one of the strongest ways for developing countries to grow,' Ahuja said of promoting competition in telecommunications.
'Keep a light touch and let us do what we do best,' the Orange CEO added.
Patricia Russo, CEO of the newly-merged Alcatel-Lucent, also warned regulators not to fall behind the technology. 'One of the challenges is that regulation has to keep up from a technological perspective,' she said.