EAP - The Pacific Infrastructure Challenge - World Bank (2006).pdf

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Universal Access Universal access refers to the goal of putting working, affordable, telephone or mobile services and internet access within the reach of the whole population. Universal access is an important goal for Pacific countries seeking to overcome the constraints of remoteness and distance between islands. The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat Communication Policy Meeting in April 2002 identified universal access priorities in: tele-health, distance learning and community telecentres and policy and regulatory frameworks. In the telecommunications sector, the concept of universal service refers to the policy of making telephone service available to all homes, regardless of the distance from the switch or ability to pay. In most countries, universal service targets and policies have been adopted, based on the idea that telecommunications is an essential service that contributes to development. A ‘telephone in every home’ may be a realistic target for developed countries, but this is not the case in developing countries. Because of this, the term ‘universal access’ was established to refer to a more realistic goal of putting a working, affordable telephone within reach of the whole population of a country. In addition, the term has been expanded to include mobile communications and increasingly, internet access under the banner of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs). This reflects the increasing importance of information technology in developing commercial, social services, healthcare and education sectors. The concept of universal access has become an increasingly important objective for telecommunications policy and legislation in developing countries. In the Pacific universal service policies refer to universal provision of voice telephony, public pay phones and internet access, corresponding with our definition of universal access, which we discuss in this section. In most countries around the world, monopoly operators have been traditionally charged with the obligation to provide a certain number of new connections per year. This approach to expanding service generally relies on cross-subsidizing local charges and connection fees from international charges. It is called the ‘Universal Service Obligation’. Incumbent telecommunications operators in the Pacific also have universal service obligations. 80
Box A.4: University of the South Pacific – Distance Learning through Satellite Communications The University of the South Pacific (USP) is an example of a successful implementation of a region-wide distance learning scheme using a satellite telecommunications network. The University is owned by twelve South Pacific countries and has centers in 11 member states. Sixty percent of its students make use of the distance education program which is supported by a satellite communications network. USP has permission to bypass the international telecommunication providers and connect its 12 member states directly. Enrolment has increased by 72% in the past 2 years since this system was introduced. Nevertheless, internet bandwidth is still expensive over the satellite connection and this has forced the university to restrict internet access among students. It is currently investigating opportunities to expand the IP platform in order to take better advantage of the internet. The technology and satellite are set to change later this year and there are plans to introduce a new high speed link to Canberra and an upgrade to IP based connections by the end of this year. Not all countries have actually licensed USP. Some just agree to it informally. This is problematic when the links are upgraded. USP member states Source: “Fiji Case Study” ITU, June 2004 In Samoa, mobile technology has been effective in helping the incumbent operator, SamoaTel, meet its universal service obligation. SamoaTel may not provide mobile services, (an exclusive license has been awarded to Telecom Samoa Cellular), but the company has used GSM technology to create wireless local loop networks in remote villages. People are able to use wireless handsets to make calls from within the village, but the handsets will not work outside of the village. Although the use of this technology is currently being disputed by Telecom Samoa Cellular, which believes this to be a contravention of its exclusive license, it has proved to be a cost effective way of extending basic services to these communities. In a liberalized telecommunications market, the traditional method of financing the universal service obligation is not possible. There is not much liberalization experience to draw on in the Pacific, but our comparator countries provide some examples of alternative approaches to providing universal access: A levy on interconnection fees: In some countries, despite a move to liberalization, the incumbent operator has retained an obligation to extend telecommunications coverage which is funded through a levy implicit in the interconnection charges. This is sometimes called a Telecommunications Service Obligation (TSO) policy. New Zealand’s ‘Kiwi Share’ obligation is a 81
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The Pacific Infrastructure Challeng
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Table of Contents 1 Acronyms and Ab
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Figure 8.4: Annual Per Capita Inves
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Box 7.9: ECTEL - Regulatory Coopera
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kWh MDG MIAA MIPA MNOC MOTCA MOU MP
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2 Executive Summary This discussion
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Fiscal, regulatory and policy decis
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Figure 2.2: Estimated Annual Invest
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3 What’s the Purpose of the Discu
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Box 4.2: Improving Infrastructure f
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5 How well are Pacific Countries Pe
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Figure 5.1: Access to Electricity 1
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Water tariffs are often too low In
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Table 6.1 shows that in addition to
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These characteristics mean that Pac
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6.2 Challenges to Institutions and
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6.2.2 Demographic Issues in the Reg
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These high rural populations mean t
Page 38 and 39: Figure 6.3: Comparison of Defining
Page 40 and 41: Lack of legal and regulatory suppor
Page 42 and 43: 7 Challenge: How do we Lift Perform
Page 44 and 45: 7.1.2 Poor Policy Design and Coordi
Page 46 and 47: different, some efficiency may be g
Page 48 and 49: Figure 7.1: Accountability in Infra
Page 50 and 51: Box 7.3: Expert Panels can Improve
Page 52 and 53: Some of these reforms have already
Page 54 and 55: 7.2.2 Choose an Appropriate Reform
Page 56 and 57: Box 7.5: Public Sector Reforms in t
Page 58 and 59: Pacific countries, management salar
Page 60 and 61: There are three classic types of pr
Page 62 and 63: While private sector involvement ma
Page 64 and 65: Air services would also benefit fro
Page 66 and 67: 7.2.5 Regional Coordination One opt
Page 68 and 69: 8 What’s the Size of the Challeng
Page 70 and 71: Figure 8.3: Annual Per Capita Inves
Page 72 and 73: Figure 8.5: Mainlines Trend 0.600 N
Page 74 and 75: Figure 8.8: Annual Per Capita Inves
Page 76 and 77: Figure 8.11: Total Annual Per Capit
Page 78 and 79: 9 How do we meet the Challenge This
Page 80 and 81: Box 9.3: Can private sector involve
Page 82 and 83: Box 9.6: How can the public sector
Page 84 and 85: The proportion of mainline access a
Page 86 and 87: Box A.2: Introducing Telecommunicat
Page 90 and 91: good example of this. The Kiwi Shar
Page 92 and 93: Figure A.7: Reported Faults per 100
Page 94 and 95: Table A.1: Institutional Indicators
Page 96 and 97: and there have been calls to recons
Page 98 and 99: A.2 Electricity Sector Analysis A s
Page 100 and 101: Figure A.10: Average Electricity Ta
Page 102 and 103: Figure A.11: Economies of Scale in
Page 104 and 105: interest rate relief on a US$9m loa
Page 106 and 107: As Figure A.14 shows, Vanuatu perfo
Page 108 and 109: Table A.3: Industry Structure and G
Page 110 and 111: Regional Cooperation in Electricity
Page 112 and 113: A.3 Water and Sanitation Sector Ana
Page 114 and 115: Figure A.17: Availability of Water
Page 116 and 117: Figure A.20: Staff per 1000 Connect
Page 118 and 119: including full operating expenses a
Page 120 and 121: Corporatization is often employed t
Page 122 and 123: operating costs, collections levels
Page 124 and 125: Figure A.25: Road Network Density v
Page 126 and 127: Federated States of Micronesia at b
Page 128 and 129: In Samoa: Samoa’s Public Works De
Page 130 and 131: Many Pacific countries already outs
Page 132 and 133: 4. Domestic and Pacific Island serv
Page 134 and 135: Figure A.31: TEU Throughput Levels
Page 136 and 137: system reduces cargo handling effic
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Economies of Scale Port operations
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The landlord model is the most comm
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Fiji 84 Ports The Maritime and Port
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Apia Port has become one of the bes
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Kiribati 90 Ports The Kiribati Port
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In Shipping: Services are considere
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Figure A.36: Total Passenger Throug
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Airline Services Figure A.38 illust
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establishment period. For the offic
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Vanuatu 101 Airports Vanuatu Limite
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Samoa 104 The Samoa Airport Authori
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Institutional Arrangements in Aviat
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Summary of Aviation Analysis The Pa
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Fiji Kiribati Marshall Islands Micr
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Barbados Dominica Grenada Jamaica M
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Samoa Solomon Islands Timor-Leste T
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Samoa Solomon Islands Timor-Leste T
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“A-Z World Airports Online” www
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