Regulator trussed up over technology - Brief Article

Electronics Times, May 15, 2000

Every few years, a dangerous combination of telecoms technologists, civil servants and lobbyists gathers to determine just how we should use the communications spectrum. And every time they meet, they pick somewhere warm, interesting and blessed with fine hotels. This time around, the World Radiocommunication Conference (formerly WARC) has landed in Istanbul.

This bunfest is supposed to last a month, but old hands will confirm the timetable is elastic.

As WRC-2000 gets underway, it does so under pressure to speed up its processes and make its rulings more transparent. Like so many other regulators, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is being challenged over the speed with which it adapts to - rather than being overtaken by - new technologies.

A second, longstanding, issue for telecoms is the extent to which a regime designed for state-owned industry now meets private enterprise needs.

Just one key discussion point for WRC-2000 underlines the demands it faces: the addition of spectrum for third generation (3G) mobile comms.

More spectrum is needed to handle the burgeoning number of applications that 3G will deliver. But an equally critical issue is freeing up capacity so that services are not merely broad in content but also extremely reliable.

Somehow one doubts that WRC will finish early - there are all those souks to roam and minarets to admire. But if it produces the kind of fudge seen in times past, its delegates could truly end up as turkeys in Turkey, voting for Christmas.