• Universal Connectivity!  This is no longer an academic subject, thanks to the availability today of VSAT systems that can cost-effectively provide telecommunications in the most challenging applications. These include no less than rural telecommunications, disaster recovery, telemedicine, distance learning, corporate networks, and much more. But. . .
  
  
• National Disconnects: In many countries where such solutions are most needed, outdated regulations stand in the way of the economic progress that is faciliated through the use of VSAT systems and services. These hurdles include:

1. High licensing fees
2. Cumbersome red tape
3. Cost-prohibitive customs duties
4. Slow response to license applications

• International Links: While there are more than 500,000 VSATs operating in most of the world's countries, most are not permitted for use in international applications. This is an unfortunate - and expensive - waste of resources, because VSATs are ideally suited not only to provide domestic connectivity, but also to offer trans-border communications for wide-area networks.
  
  The Solution: The Gobal VSAT Forum Regulatory Working Group has developed the 'International VSAT Policy Declaration' with regulatory recommendations and guidelines. The document was created to serve as a tool for regulators and policy makers, who are interested in modifying regulation to facilitate the use of VSAT-based services. To download this 18 page document, click here for English, French, Russian, or Spanish.

  Regulators around the world already are taking these factors into account and are implementing new policies that facilitate the use of VSAT systems and services. Evidence of this trend can be seen in numerous global and regional initiatives being signed by scores of nations, including:

The VSAT industry – through the Global VSAT Forum - has been officially invited by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to participate in a ground-breaking program that facilitates the implementation and provision of fixed and mobile satellite communications systems and services throughout the world.

Called the Memorandum of Understanding for Global Mobile Personal Communications via Satellite - or GMPCS-MOU - it has been signed by more than 70 administrations intent on facilitating the use of mobile and fixed terminals, with reduced customs, type approval, and licensing requirements.

The key potential advantages of the MOU to an economy are that effective, rapidly-deployable VSAT- and mobile-satellite-based communications solutions will more readily be available. This access to communications, in turn, serves to stimulate local business thereby creating jobs, new sources of revenue, and potentially attracting new foreign investment to nations.

On 5 Feb., 1998, the results of negotiations on market access for basic telecommunications services formally entered into force, according to the World Trade Organization. At close of the three-year negotiations, in February 1997, the commitments of 69 governments were annexed to the Fourth Protocol of the General Agreement on Trade in Services.

The world’s industrialized countries all participated in the deal. More than 40 developing countries from virtually every region of the world also took part, as did six of the Central and Eastern European economies in transition.

The markets of the participants accounted for more than 91% of global telecommunications revenues. Moreover, since the negotiations, two participants in the Protocol improved their commitments and three WTO members who had not participated submitted commitments on basic telecommunications to the Council for Trade in Services.

The Global VSAT Forum would urge all governments to sign the WTO Trade Agreement and open up the provision of all services via VSAT on a technology-neutral basis and eliminate the limitation on the number of suppliers that can offer such services.

Forty governments agreed, on 26 March, 1997, to implement the WTO Ministerial Declaration on Trade in Information Technology Products (ITA) that began cutting customs duties on computer and telecommunications products on 1 July 1997 and eliminates them altogether by the year 2000. These tariff reductions will apply to all WTO members on an m.f.n. basis.

Speaking on the occasion of the announcement, Renato Ruggiero, Director General of the WTO, said, "The impact of these agreements on improved living standards for the world’s citizens should not be underestimated. The… telecoms hardware… that are included in the ITA are the conduit for the delivery of information. By making such products more affordable, we move one step closer to the vision of a telephone in every village of the world. The ramifications of such an achievement to the health and education of those in the poorest countries are obvious."

The Global VSAT Forum encourages all administrations to participate fully in the ITA, particularly as it relates to VSAT systems.

 4) Tampere Convention:

The international community is moving to offer the VSAT industry and other telecoms concerns an international legal instrument that will empower nations requesting external assistance following a natural or man-made disaster to waive normal licensing and importation requirements.

Called the "Tampere Convention on the Provision of Telecommunication Resources for Disaster Mitigation and Relief Operations", the treaty is significant because:

1. It provides for the reduction or removal of regulatory barriers that currently impede the use of VSAT resources for disaster recovery.
   
2. For the first time, privileges and immunities will be accorded to private VSAT companies providing disaster assistance by exempting them from taxation and duties, and granting them immunity from arrest and detention. (Previously, such immunities were accorded only to the UN and comparable multi-lateral agencies.)
   
3. Before the arrival of telecoms assistance in a disaster zone, a requesting nation will be obliged to set down in writing the fees it expects to receive or have reimbursed, if any. This applies to cases where non-disaster-relief communications are provided in tandem with disaster-recovery services, such as after the Kobe earthquake. To avoid excessive charges, the fees will be based on an agreed model of payment and reimbursement, as well as other factors such as the nature of the disaster, natural hazards, etc.

Thus, the Global VSAT Forum would encourage all governments to sign the Tampere Convention and embrace it fully in the context of facilitating communications service provision via VSAT-based systems.

A trend is underway throughout the world, whereby regional groups of countries are moving to boost foreign trade in telecoms terminal equipment by streamlining terminal certification and test procedures through the signing of regional Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs).

For example, streamlined test procedures for VSATs and other telecoms systems are poised to boost Pacific-Rim trade by hundreds of millions of dollars, following meetings held recently by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group.

The test procedures, which could be implemented as early as July 1999, represent the first phase of an MRA for conformity assessment of satellite communications earth stations and other telecoms terminals included in an agreement first signed by ministers of the 18 APEC nations last summer.

Phase two of the MRA calls for the APEC nations to accelerate equipment certification procedures and reduce or eliminate redundant testing of VSATs and other telecoms equipment. The gains eventually are expected to affect more than $40 billion in trade among all sectors of the telecoms industry.

The GVF supports similar initiatives in other regions: The Inter-American Telecommunications Commission (CITEL) is also moving toward completion of telecom MRA text, which is expected in late 1999. And Europe is moving toward implementation of its own version, called the Radio and Telecommunications Terminal Equipment Directive (RTTE).

In the absence of an MRA, certification and testing procedures of VSATs and other telecoms equipment must often be repeated on a country-by-country basis, because the region’s nations and, indeed, economies around the world each impose their own authorization schemes. This redundancy ultimately forces end users to pay higher prices and wait longer for delivery of solutions.

Thus, the Global VSAT Forum recommends that all governments pursue such programs.

6. Other General Considerations:

The Global VSAT Forum has also observed progressive trends in policy formation in various nations around the world, which we would suggest that all governments consider. These include but are not limited to the following:

Elimination of Monopolies: In every market where a monopoly exists, so too are found sub-standard services offered at above-market prices - assuming any service is available at all. The Global VSAT Forum recommends that monopoly privileges be eliminated, because the people and business community of any nation are entitled to high-quality, low-cost communications as a means of improving standards of living.

Licensing exclusions: VSATs are an ideal means of rapidly providing cost-effective network solutions for a wide range of applications, including distance learning, telemedicine, rural telecoms, banking, retailing, stock exchanges, disaster recovery, and other government, commercial and consumer-oriented solutions.

In recognition of this, nations have begun moving toward policies that do not require VSATs to undergo a licensing process of any kind, provided they operate within certain pre-defined parameters. The Global VSAT Forum would encourage all governments to investigate this option, and we would be pleased to offer any information that may be required by the administration.

More Yields Less: In general, the Global VSAT Forum has observed in every region of the world that the more regulation, fees, and other requirements that are imposed on would-be providers of VSAT systems and services, the less communications will be provided in the country.

As a general rule, eliminate fees and paperwork wherever and whenever possible; numerous countries around the world are implementing new policies which embrace this new approach to facilitating the provision of telecommunications to a variety of end users. If more information is sought related to this or any other policy trends, please do not hesitate to contact the Global VSAT Forum for further input.

Regional Harmonization: Individual nations are increasingly interested in formulating policies within the context of policies being considered or used by other nations located within or proximate to their own region. This can most clearly be seen in the European Community, where harmonization of policies has been mandated and is even now being acted upon. (Manifestations of this also are evident in programs like the One Stop Shop VSAT Licensing policy being formulated by Europe’s CEPT.)

But it is also evident in other regions. Many African nations, for example, have no policy to accommodate VSAT system and service provision. So they are evaluating regional policy solutions that could be used to advance the entire region, as well as each individual nation. These may be adopted by PATU, SATCC, COMESA or other African organizations.