Islands Business - Telecommunications: “There is an urgent need for regulatory reform across the Pacific.”

Dev Nadkarni

David Cunliffe... NZ's telecommunications minister. Picture: Dev Nadkarni

New Zealand’s minister for ICT and telecommunications, David Cunliffe, chaired the Pacific Islands Forum ICT ministers meeting held in Wellington in March. The meeting coincided with the weeklong global ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) conference. Since these important events, the minister has had a busy time, especially in the run up to his announcement in May –and its aftermath-- that is set to change the telecommunications scenario drastically in New Zealand over the coming months. In his address to the ministers, Cunliffe said he was especially aware of the difficulties of working with monopolistic service providers. With the announcement of unbundling, he has taken the first steps towards loosening the monopolistic stranglehold of New Zealand’s monolithic telecommunications company. In this interview with ISLANDS BUSINESS' Dev Nadkarni, he shares his views on a range of ICT-related issues concerning Pacific Islands nations. About the ICT ministers’ meet, he said, “New Zealand was honoured to host such a useful and productive meeting in Wellington. The overlap with the ICANN meeting brought opportunities for Pacific Islands officials and ministers to meet with international figures such as Dr Vint Cerf, and to mix with ICANN and Governmental Advisory Committee officials from around the world.”

What are the biggest challenges that the Pacific Islands face as regards ICT proliferation?

Isolation is the single largest hurdle resulting in a very high cost of communications while, at the same time, making advanced telecommunications one of the most potentially productive means of using ICT for economic, social and cultural advancement.

There is an urgent need for regulatory reform across the Pacific. This represents a huge challenge and there is a need to find a way of promulgating appropriate ‘best practise’ across the region. Human capacity building is critical. This applies at all levels and includes regulatory capacity as well as managerial and operational expertise.

What would you like Pacific Islands governments to do most to increase the reach of ICT to its peoples?

Contributing to the work of the Task Force in order to build and maintain a sense and reality of momentum is critical. Mutual support for ICT development leading up to a further meeting of Ministers in 12 months will help with this.

What mix of infrastructure and technologies would be suited best for the Pacific Islandsconsidering their special circumstances (low population density,poverty, low access to education and information, poor human capacityfor ICT development, major transportation challenges)?

Satellite technologies are best suited to much of the region. Ways need to be developed to ensure that maximal use is made of the relatively costly ground stations. These can include telecentres in every village, perhaps based on a school or other existing public facility. Around each such facility it would be both necessary and possible to build capacity for ICT support (both for hardware support and applications) using a ‘barefoot doctor’ approach. At the same time, appropriate applications in health, education and other government services need to be developed and delivered over the community-based access facilities.

Models for ‘reticulating’ connectivity based on solar powered and ‘ruggedised’ WiFi stations and repeaters are being developed for use in isolated NZ communities. At the same time, the capacity for installing and maintaining such equipment is also being developed with local young people so that there is a high level of local diagnostic and maintenance capability, thus reducing the time and cost of repairs and increasing the level of local resilience. These developments in NZ may prove well suited to island communities.

How will NZ help implement the ‘Plan’ after Forum nations’ leaders endorse it later this year?

NZ will be involved with the Task Force, and will work with the Tongan Chair to help ensure useful outcomes over the next 12 months. At the same time, it may be possible to pilot the use of some locally developed technologies through non-governmental agencies working in the Pacific.