Tag: working group

What is meant by “Meaningful Broadband?”

Meaningful Broadband refers to an innovative framework of broadband deployment for emerging markets.  The term refers to the need for coordinated deployment of “broadband ecosystems” – encompassing backbone, Last Mile options, devices and content – which have meaningful impacts on users.

What is the Meaningful Broadband Working Group (MBWG) in Thailand?

It is a coalition between regulators and telecommunications operators in Thailand.   It is based at Chulalongkorn University and is joint venture between Center for Ethics of Science and Technology and Digital Divide Institute.

Is this coalition common in other countries?

No.  Normally at odds with each other, operators and regulators usually do not join voluntarily into a coalition of this type.  It may be the only such national coalition in the world.

Why is this needed?

Thai government, lagging in broadband deployment, urgently needs to accelerate high speed internet in order to enhance the productivity of government services, and achieve essential public policy reforms.¹ The private sector urgently needs broadband for market growth.  But these goals cannot be reached without new forms of public private cooperation and cost sharing with the private sector.

Isn’t broadband, by its very nature, beneficial to society?

No.  Broadband is not a public good.  It is a powerful force for change that can bring benefit or harm to a society (or more likely a combination of both).  Still in its infancy, broadband is not just another medium of communications but a meta-medium which will soon encompass all other media.  Increasingly, broadband does not merely convey information but increasingly it will shape behavior of citizens. Given the consequences of broadband to society, it is essential that broadband be harnessed by leaders to achieve optimal benefits to society – and to anticipate and mitigate any harmful impacts.

What negative impacts could occur if broadband is deployed for no explicit purpose?

If guided by the unsound public and private policies and any ill-conceived regulatory mechanisms, broadband could accelerate gaps between rich and poor, undermine fundamental traditions and values, accelerate urban sprawl while undermining rural economies, and cause addictive behaviors, particularly among poorly educated young persons.

What meaningful impacts can be achieved through broadband?

Meaningful broadband properly deployed and funded, could bring equity to emerging markets, scale up microcredit and boost SME growth, creating a new middle class that could bring stability to fragile economies.  Broadband could shift the locus of economies towards human resources development via lifelong learning, workforce development, and SME growth.  It serves as a trigger for education reform as well as introducing informal interactive learning via edutainment. It could cause a reverse emigration from Bangkok back to rural villages and it could promote eco-tourism (e.g. through broadband enabled English language training) and introduce “smart infrastructures” through which countries can reduce their carbon footprint.   Broadband could enhance the productivity and accountability of government bureaucracies, reducing corruption while strengthening democracies process from the bottom up.  It could enhance the “creative economy” in Thailand, tapping the openness and creativity of Thais to enhance the competitiveness of the Thai economy.  It could enhance the quality of Thai higher education and teacher training as well as cause the academic sector to move towards online curriculum, furthering lifelong learning.  Broadband is essential for extending banking services to the unbanked and in that way to promote savings and creditworthiness among low income populations. Finally, broadband could communicate the ethics advocated by His Majesty the King (Sufficiency Economy.)

Can’t markets, left to themselves, produce these benefits?

No.   Private sector investment and market-development activities are essential but not sufficient to deliver the benefits of broadband.  Market forces must be reshaped through public policy, regulation, subsidy and voluntary practice to enhance benefits of broadband as well as to minimize harm. However, none of these positive changes made possible by broadband can emerge without the coordinated and skillful development of broadband ecosystem.  Perhaps more than any other industry, telecommunications industry is itself constructed as a “compact” between public and private sectors.  This compact needs to be re-drawn in the digital age?

So, is this something that has to be pushed on the private sector?

No. Support for meaningful broadband has come more from business than government. Though mobile supply chains have been able to achieve remarkable cell phone penetration without active assistance from government, they have not had corresponding success with inducing cell phone users to upgrade to internet.   To fulfill their own ambitious goals for broadband penetration, commercial forces must get help from government.   They cannot get this help without establishing broadband as a public good, e.g. Assuring governments that broadband will have meaningful impacts.  To successfully leapfrog into broadband,   the private sector needs to establish policies that move into close alignment with government reformers.

Is that the purpose of Meaningful Broadband Working Group in Thailand?

Yes.  The aim of Meaningful Broadband Working Group (MBWG) in Thailand is to accelerate broadband penetration.  It must do so in a way that fulfills commercial goals while also enabling specific public policy reforms sought by governments.

What outcome are the expected from MBWG?

Once MBWG understand how market forces are planning to introduce broadband to Thai citizens and institutions, MBWG may well consider new public-private partnerships that bring new money to the table in the form of public-private partnerships.   The ultimate outcome of MBWG is a genre of public private partnerships that could support the meaningfulness of broadband.

Who are members of MBWG?

Members currently consist of five major telecommunications operators, represented by their top executives (CEOs or chairmen) and the independent government regulatory agency, NTC, represented by two of their commissioners.

Why is membership so restrictive?

The six members of the Working Group, by themselves, are a core group of motivated stakeholders.  They can make quick decisions that are urgently needed within the time frame that Meaningful Broadband is achievable.  Given the breadth of private sector participation in MBWG, representing a 94% market share, it is unlikely that any single commercial bias could enter MBWG’s formulations.   Furthermore, all of MBWG’s deliberations will be transparent. They will be guided by Chulalongkorn University Secretariat.

What is the near term agenda of MBWG?

The agenda will be set by the first formal meeting of this group in July 2, 2008.  It may well consider spectrum policy reforms, market-development collaborations, technological innovations, and financial innovations, as well as the design of new public-private partnerships which would introduce subsidies into mobile supply chains.   One certain agenda item is to consider ways to alter the formula for universal services obligations, which has to be rethought for the broadband era.   Another agenda topic will be to achieve the economic analysis needed to precisely define the role of broadband in the model of economic stimulus being embraced by the Ministry of Finance of the Kingdom of Thailand and how broadband becomes integrated into the planning of the National Economic and Social Development Board. To this end, MBWG members desire a substantive “sit down session” with the current Prime Minister to determine his vision for the Kingdom of Thailand.

Where and how did the Meaningful Broadband framework emerge?

After 15 years of deliberations and hundreds of conferences on the topic of “digital divide,” held all over the world,  the theme of broadband has emerged as the highest priority among governments,  think tanks, business associations,  intergovernmental agencies,  NGOs, and  leading corporations that have been involved in the discussion about how to harness digital technology for public benefit.  These leading institutions now agree that developing countries cannot compete effectively with advanced countries without an approach to broadband that is designed for their needs.

How did Indonesia set the stage for MBWG in Thailand?

The model we are using was originally formulated in Indonesia.   Republic of Indonesia’s Department of Information and Informatics (DepKominfo) asked an NGO called Investor Group Against Digital Divide (IGADD) to recommend an innovative broadband policy.   This policy, which has resulted from interactions with over three hundred leaders of Indonesia, is being presented in three stages, framework development, through a document called Meaningful Broadband Report, model construction, in which an economic model will address investor criteria for entering new public private partnerships, and implementation phase which will emphasize public/private partnerships.   IGADD is linked to the Meaningful Broadband Working Group through the Digital Divide Institute, and DigitalDivide.org, which is also the web site for MBWG.

How is Chulalongkorn University involved?

MBWG was created on February 23, 2009, in an event at the university hosted by the Chairman of the University Council Dr. Charas Suwanwela. At this event, various CEOs and regulators responded positively to the invitation to join the Working Group.   At the same time, the university’s Center for Ethics of Science and Technology, led by Prof Soraj Hongladarom, accepted the role of Secretariat for MBWG, which is directed by Prof Craig Warren Smith.

How is the Office of the Prime Minister involved?

MBWG has held meetings with the Office of the Prime Minister, and in these meetings MBWG has requested a holistic vision of how this current Kingdom of Thailand government can be served by broadband.  MBWG has formally requested a process of its interface with the Cabinet and the National Economic and Social Development Board.  MBWG wishes the government to clarify how its own goals could be served by broadband and, in this light, to clarify how the costs and risks of delivering these broadband-enabled benefits should be shared with broadband.

Who funds MBWG?

Funding for the launch activity for MBWG was provided by Nokia Siemens Network and Chulalongkorn University.  Next stage funding, for framework development, was provided by the National Telecommunications Commission.  A budget for ongoing operating support of MBWG will be presented for consideration to the members of MBWG in its July meeting.  Additional research funds are requested of NESDB and Crown Property Bureau.

What is MBWG’s international agenda?

A number of intergovernmental agencies with offices in Bangkok – World Bank, ADB, ITU, ASEAN, UNESCO, and EU – have each offered their services to MBWG to provide best practices.  ASEAN has invited MBWG to propose Meaningful Broadband as a framework for the regional cooperation and national capacity building to close Digital Divide in the nine Asian countries.