New members strengthen Asia Pacific Carriers’ Coalition
Inaugural AGM sees new Board and roadmap for 2005 unveiled
Singapore – 15th March, 2005 – The Asia Pacific Carriers’ Coalition (APCC) — a telecommunications carriers’ group with the goal of promoting open market policies and best practice regulatory frameworks throughout the region — today announced it is growing and unveiled its roadmap for the year ahead including details on the regulatory scorecard program.
During its inaugural Annual General Meeting today, the APCC also endorsed the appointment of new board members: President, Maha Krishnapillai of Macquarie Telecom; Vice-President, Dieter Sieber of T-Systems (a division of Deutsche Telekom); Treasurer, Andrew Ngiam of MCI; and Secretary, Sally Ting of Coudert Brothers LLP.
“With its growing membership, the APCC is an even more effective advocate for pro-competitive reforms throughout the region. We strive to provide a common industry voice in the ongoing debate on how to achieve improved outcomes in telecommunications regulation and free trade,” said Krishnapillai.
The APCC continues to grow in relevance as the liberalisation of telecommunication markets gains pace across the region. New entrants to these markets can harness the advantages of technology, innovation and choice of provider for the benefit of consumers. Stimulating this kind of investment has a direct impact on the broader economy.
The state of domestic regulatory environments directly impacts the investment decisions of international telecommunications operators and communications-dependent businesses. The APCC aims to help improve these conditions for the benefit of investors and consumers alike,” he said.
New members announced and roadmap for 2005 unveiled
IDT, Telecom Italia Sparkle and New Zealand’s TelstraClear have signed up to the APCC. They join founding members and associates including AT&T, BT, Cable & Wireless, KDDI, T-Systems, MCI, Macquarie Telecom, StarHub and Pacific Internet.
Unveiling its roadmap of issues to be tackled in 2005, APCC members identified the top market opening priorities to be: ‘last mile’ access; stimulating competitive broadband; and effective regulation of wholesale mobile phone markets.
“The APCC’s end goal is to increase service quality, drive innovation and lower prices for consumers across the Asia Pacific region,” said Krishnapillai.
“But we need to tackle a number of issues before we are at that point,” he said.
“During 2005 we will continue to work with Governments and regulators to help address these issues and create fair and open telecommunications markets.”
‘Scorecards’ to rate regulatory regimes
One of the major initiatives for the APCC during 2005 will be the launch of the region’s first regulatory ‘scorecards’, details of which were outlined during today’s AGM.
The scorecards approach provides a snapshot of the views and experiences of APCC members regarding the telecom regulatory environments of key Asia Pacific countries that, to date, have implemented meaningful market opening commitments. Currently, these countries include Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, India and Malaysia.
Each country will be assessed on a range of criteria (such as accountability, transparency and enforcement) by use of a benchmark survey of the views and experiences of new entrants including the following categories:
• Does the regulatory authority regulate effectively?
• Is there effective last mile regulation?
• Is market entry permitted and fair?
This year’s APCC scorecard will be released in June.
The scorecards will be updated annually.
As telecommunications markets in newly-liberalised countries are further opened, these countries will be included in the scorecard process.
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About Asia Pacific Carriers’ Coalition:
The Asia Pacific Carriers’ Coalition (APCC) was founded in 2004. It aims to promote open market policies and best practice regulatory frameworks throughout Asia Pacific.
APCC members include some of the largest operators in the region – and worldwide – such as AT&T, BT, Cable & Wireless, KDDI, T-Systems (a division of Deutsche Telekom), Macquarie Telecom, MCI, Pacific Internet, StarHub, TelstraClear, Telecom Italia Sparkle, IDT and others.
For more information contact:
Jasmine Quek
Secretary
Asia Pacific Carriers’ Coalition
Email: [email protected]