State of Telecom National Broadband Plans
State of Telecom: National Next-Generation Broadband Plans
Friday, October 23, 2009
Columbia University, New York
Countries around the world are undertaking ambitious and far-reaching national plans to deploy ubiquitous next-generation "UltraBroadband" (UBB) infrastructures based on fiber or next-generation wireless. Some plans are based on general upgrade goals and others are part of economic stimulus efforts.
National Broadband Plans exist, in some form, for a number of countries. This year, CITI's "State of Telecom" conference reviewed a number of these national plans.
Agenda
8:30 - 9:00 Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:00 - Welcome
- Robert Pepper,Chair of CITI's Advisory Board and Vice President, Global Technology Policy, Cisco
9:15 - Roundtable Discussion of the National Broadband Plans
- United States: Blair Levin, Executive Director of the FCC's Omnibus Broadband Initiative
- Germany: Matthias Kurth, President of the Federal Network Agency
- Britain: Derek Wyatt, M.P., Co-chairman of Parliament's All Party Communications Group
- France: Bernard Benhamou, Head of the Interministerial Delegation on Internet Usage, Ministry of Research and State Secretariat for Digital Economy
- Singapore: Andrew J. Haire, Deputy Director General (Telecoms and Post) of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore
- Sweden: Patrik Sandgren, Strategy and Communication Department of the Post and Telecom Agency
- Brazil: Cezar Alvarez, Head of Cabinet of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and responsible for the Brazilian broadband plan
Moderator: Eli Noam, Director of CITI, who will ask:
- How have the plans around the world been conceived and justified, at whose initiative, and how are they being administered?
- How are these plans financed, and what are their cost metrics?
- Which countries are "ahead" or "behind" in UBB deployment and adoption rates, what are the metrics, and how do these rankings affect national broadband plans?
- Putting all of its Federal and non-Federal elements together, what exactly is the "American Broadband Plan"?
10:45 - Keynote
Lawrence Strickling, Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)
11:00 - Coffee Break
11:15 - Public and Private Finance: Cost and Benefit
- Ellen Blackler, Executive Director--Public Policy, AT&T
- Lisa Rosenblum, Senior Vice President of Regulatory and Legal Affairs of the Telephony and Data Services divsion of Cablevision Systems
- Lorenzo Pupillo, Executive Director, Public & Economic Affairs, Telecom Italia
- Reinhard Wieck, Vice President - Economic Research & Media Regulation, Deutsche Telekom
- Carlos Lopez-Blanco, Director, International Office, Telefonica
- Reza Jafari, Chairman of the ITU TELECOM Board and CEO E-Development International Chairman, India, China, and America Institute
This Panel, moderated by Dan Reingold, CITI's Director of Telecom Finance (and former top-rated Wall Street analyst) addressed these questions and issues:
- Which plans rely primarily on private risk capital and what features of these plans are designed to attract sufficient private capital?
- What are the appropriate vehicles: loans? Grants? Subsidies?
- How do Wall Street and global investors regard the national broadband plans: which do they like? Which do they fear?
- How are these plans monitored, and how is their success measured?
12:30 - Lunch
1:45 - Assessing the economic impact of broadband plans
- Raul Katz, Director of Business Strategy Research, CITI: "Comparative assessment of broadband stimulus programs: US versus Germany"
- Jonathan Liebenau, Reader in Technology Management, London School of Economics: "Assessing the impact of Digital Britain" presentation
paper
- Martin Fornefled, CEO, MICUS, "The economic impact of broadband on EU countries" presentation
paper
- Leonard Waverman, Dean of the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary, "Economic IMpact of Broadband: An Empirical Study"
- Chris Boam, Director, International Regulatory Affairs and Public Policy, Verizon, "Comparative broadband strategies: what is success, and when/why is it successful?"
- Heather Hudson, Professor of Telecommunication, University of San Francisco
This Panel, moderated by Bob Atkinson, CITI's Director of Policy Research, addressed questions and issues such as:
- What is the expected employment and economic impact of the broadband plans?
- How does the impact vary by region: highly developed areas versus developing regions or urban/suburban versus rural?
- How do we manage trade-offs between economic development and social inclusion objectives?
- What metrics will determine the success or failure of a program?
- Demand programs versus supply oriented?
3:00 - Emerging Market Structure
- Roland Montagne, Director, Telecoms Business Unit, IDATE, "UBB European Panorama at June 2009 - Status of Public Funding for UBB in Europe"
- Larry Spiwak, President - Phoenix Center for advanced Legal and Economic Public Policy Studies
- Nico Grove, Munich School of Management, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen
- David Isenberg, isen.com, LCC
- Scott Wallsten, Scott Wallsten, Economics Director of the FCC's Omnibus Broadband Initiative
- Mark Cooper, Consumer Federation of America presentation
paper
This Panel, moderated by Raul L. Katz, CITI's Director of Business Strategy Research, addressed questions and issues such as:
- Which national broadband plans envision competitive UBB infrastructures and which envision (or encourage) a single, monopoly broadband infrastructure?
- What are the planned or expected industry structures: Structural separation? Infrastructure competition? Regulated duopoly/monopoly? Public ownership?
- How do the plans envision the role of wireless UBB, and what provisions for spectrum allocation are being made?
4:15 - Introducing the new book by Eli Noam "Media Ownership and Concentration in America"
Introduction of Eli Noam's new book, "Media Ownership and Concentration in America"
5:00 - Wrap Up and Book Party Reception