The competitive dynamics of the digital ecosystem and the design of a new regulatory framework were the key topics of discussion and analysis at the first meeting for the year of GSMA Latin America’s Regulatory Working Group (REGU), held on 5 and 6 April in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Attendees at the REGU meeting included 33 leading executives from 17 mobile operators in 13 Latin American countries responsible for regulatory, legal and public affairs matters.
“The rise of new players in the digital ecosystem, delivering services previously provided by telecommunications companies, has made us rethink the regulatory framework in which these competitive services coexist. Regulation must be dynamic so it can adapt to these changes in services and technologies and avoid becoming rapidly out of date. The key also lies in establishing predictable rules of the game that encourage companies to intensify investments, innovate, and keep connecting people,” said Matías Fernández Díaz, GSMA Latin America Regulatory Manager, at the meeting.
According to the recent report “A new regulatory framework for the digital ecosystem” by NERA Economic Consulting, one of the main challenges faced by regulation of the digital ecosystem is the difficulty that prescriptive, ex ante regulatory regimes have in keeping pace with the dynamism of digital products and markets, resulting in excessive and inefficient regulation.
The REGU meeting began with extensive discussion about the most important regulatory matters on the mobile ecosystem agenda among representatives of mobile operators from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela. The discussion was led by REGU working group Chair Cristian Sepúlveda, Institutional and Strategic Relations Manager at Entel Chile, and Deputy Chair Andrea López Salloun, Regulatory Manager with Telecom Argentina Group.
Other items on the REGU working agenda were mobile money regulation; privacy and security in the mobile ecosystem; digital inclusion; investment, competition and the impact on quality of service; and innovation and new business models in the era of convergence.
The REGU meeting was held alongside the seminar “Mobile ecosystem in Argentina: impact, innovation and collaboration effort”, where the GSMA Intelligence report on Argentina was presented. The report reveals that Argentina’s mobile ecosystem contributed $21 billion to the economy in 2015, accounting for 3.7% of GDP. The meeting included the launch of the We Care Argentina, campaign, where mobile operators Claro, Telecom Personal and Telefónica Movistar announced initiatives against mobile phone theft and in favour of child protection, in collaboration with Argentina’s Ministry of Communications, the National Communications Agency (ENACOM) and the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights.
The Buenos Aires meeting was the first this year for the REGU working group, which brings together Latin American experts in regulating the telecommunications industry. The GSMA has four working groups, headed by the executives of GSMA member companies. The REGU will meet again at Mobile 360 Latin America, in Mexico City, from 20 to 22 September 2016.