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Better policies to bring more investment in telecom

Analysts say as ITU Telecom World kicks off in Bangkok

Kowsher Jahan Khaled, front Bangkok
The governments and policymakers in the Asia region should focus more on easing their regulations to attract more investment in telecommunication infrastructure, analysts said at an international conference yesterday.
They said the IGT sector is going through a major transformation, especially in Asia, and the governments should create an enabling environment to give a boost to people's affordability.
Telecom leaders, from public and private sectors, content developers and academics met at the ITU Telecom World 2013 at Impact conference centre in the Thai capital to share their experiences and expectations.
International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations body, is organising the four-day summit that will shed light on the future changes in the fast-growing digital world.
The speakers said affordable handsets and internet, and better policies will go hand in hand to improve the socio-economic conditions in the countries like Thailand,
Indonesia, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Jon Fredrik Baksaas, president and Group CEO of Telenor, which is the majority shareholder of Bangladesh's leading mobile operator Grameen-
phone, stressed the need for developing more local contents to take the benefits of the recent development in the telecom sector to the masses.
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Telecom operators should build sustainable business models that would attract more customers who long for local contents as more countries in Asia are issuing 3G licences.
He said companies should evolve around local contents to ensure their growth and security of their investment.
"Local contents will play a tremendous role in the sector in the coming years," he said.
Baksaas said Grameenphone saw tremendous success in rural Bangladesh through its Palli phone for rural women.
Hamadoun I Toure, secretarygeneral of the International Telecommunication Union, said, as the ICT sector is going through transformation, people are changing their mindsets to connect in different ways.
"And we need to ensure that the governments and regulators put a
right legal framework in place to support that change," Toure said, adding that the governments need to create the right environment to attract investment.
The private sector should be allowed to ensure their sustainability, which he said is a major concern for all. "Too much licence fees and an inflexible tax regime will hurt the growth of the sector," he added.
Toure said local contents should drive the local market and called upon young people to build their capacities through education so that they can develop innovative products for their communities.
The governments in developing nations should now go for services like e-health and e-education, he said.
Nasser Marafih, chief executive officer of Qatar-based mobile operator Ooredoo, said data and broadband are going to be the next challenges for the emerging economies. The policymakers should address the issues of spectrum, licences and
taxation properly and this will ultimately benefit the users.
"Broadband will drive other sectors in the days to come and we need to ensure that the devices are available in the market," Marafih said.
There should be continuous talks on licences and renewals between the government and the private players so the operators can reduce prices and offer affordable solutions, he said.
Public-private partnerships in the telecom sector can bring immense benefits for users, said Anudith Nakornthap, minister, the government complex, the ICT ministry of Thailand.
"The private sector can be engaged in delivering the services and solutions developed by the government," he said.
John E Davies, vice president, Intel World Ahead Program, Intel Corporation, also spoke at the session moderated by A Reza Jafari, chairman