With many countries undergoing trade liberalisation, the need to discuss the implementation of trade rules has never been more important. To address this, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) recently co-hosted a workshop with Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT) and World Trade Organisation (WTO) on telecom trade rules and their implications on national regulatory frameworks. The workshop, which was held from 19 to 22 August, drew a mix of 40-odd regulators, telecom operators and vendors from around the Asia Pacific region.

Said Mr Leong Keng Thai, Director-General (Telecoms and Post) from IDA, "Many countries who joined the WTO have made commitments on telecoms and IT services. There are clear benefits of open markets, and market liberalisation has indeed benefited Singapore. However, while these agreements have been entered into, many countries need some form of guidance to better understand what they are committed to."

With this in mind, IDA collaborated with APT, a telecoms best-practice community comprised mainly regulators, and WTO, to jointly conduct the training session.

Mr Yamada: With 24 APT members in the WTO, and five applying to be WTO members, we felt that such a training session was very timely.

Ms Tuthill: Telecoms is undergoing much change. The good thing is that in telecoms regulators are receptive to sharing ideas on how to do a better job.

"With 24 APT members in the WTO, and five applying to be WTO members, we felt that such a training session was very timely," said Mr Toshiyuki Yamada, Secretary-General of APT.

Although similar workshops were run in the past, what made this workshop different was that two of WTO's top international experts came to town to speak and run the sessions. Ms Lee Tuthill, Counselor at WTO and one of the main speakers at the workshop, said, "I wanted an interactive approach where the attendees learn the General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS) by doing realistic exercises, rather than just listening to speakers talk." GATS is a WTO treaty on multilateral services trade which all WTO members are committed to.

During the four-day workshop, Ms Tuthill and the other trainers ran the attendees through multiple case studies on topics such as dispute settlements, licensing procedures and understanding the GATS commitments. Attendees were encouraged to role-play how they would apply and implement the fundamental principles of GATS - such as transparency and reasonableness - in national regulations.

With more than a decade's experience dealing with the world's regulators, telcos and vendors, Ms Tuthill and her colleagues shared many real-life examples in response to the lively and often candid questions raised by participants during the workshop. Examples included how incumbent telcos try to stymie new entrants and how regulators can use WTO rules to prevent such anti-competitive behaviour. "Telecoms is undergoing much change. The good thing is that in telecoms regulators are receptive to sharing ideas on how to do a better job," said Ms Tuthill.

From the perspective of the attendees, the workshop has given them greater insights into the telecoms trade process. Said Mr Kannan M, Economic Advisor to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, "The trainers were excellent, and the workshop subject matter was quite necessary, timely and relevant." He added that although all countries are in "different stages of development" and their needs may be different, it is "good to know what the rules of the game are".

"Member countries need to equip themselves to negotiate in the global trade forum," he said. "It was good that IDA - a pioneering regulator in the region - helped organise this workshop."

Click here for more information on the workshop on Telecom Trade Rules and Regulatory Disciplines.