abhishreshthaa
Abhijeet S
BROAD CONSENSUS
A number of countries have addressed the convergence issue. The broad consensus that is emerging is that while there is technological convergence, the type of services being offered is quite different. Thus, the two broad areas: audio-visual (or broadcasting) and telecommunications areas need different regulatory forms: broadcasting and telecommunications should be retained as separate regulatory regimes. The common infrastructure that may be used may need the two sets of regulators to work together but do not need a common regulator.
The European Union (EU) produced a Green Paper on this in 1997 discussing various aspects of convergence; it had wide ranging public discussions on this and has finally agreed that there is no need for a common regulator. In the US, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) only deals with the physical infrastructure and not with content of broadcasting. The only country in the world that has passed a Convergence Act is Malaysia and their experience has not been happy
A number of countries have addressed the convergence issue. The broad consensus that is emerging is that while there is technological convergence, the type of services being offered is quite different. Thus, the two broad areas: audio-visual (or broadcasting) and telecommunications areas need different regulatory forms: broadcasting and telecommunications should be retained as separate regulatory regimes. The common infrastructure that may be used may need the two sets of regulators to work together but do not need a common regulator.
The European Union (EU) produced a Green Paper on this in 1997 discussing various aspects of convergence; it had wide ranging public discussions on this and has finally agreed that there is no need for a common regulator. In the US, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) only deals with the physical infrastructure and not with content of broadcasting. The only country in the world that has passed a Convergence Act is Malaysia and their experience has not been happy