Interview with Jørgen Abild Andersen, Chairman of Committee on Digital Economy Policy (CDEP) of OECD, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development doi: https://doi.org/10.13052/NBICT.2015.006
Knud Erik Skouby and Anders Henten
Center for Communication, Media and Information technologies, Aalborg
University, Denmark
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Abstract: In the interview, Jørgen Abild Andersen explains how he has been working
on changing the agenda of ICCP (now CDEP) in OECD. Formerly, the
Committee has worked with issues centered on the development and growth of
information and communication technologies (ICTs) without much attention
to the use and implications in other sectors of society. This may have been
relevant in a period when telecommunications and broadcasting have been
liberalized. However, today, more attention needs to be paid to the great
societal challenges regarding better lives and economic growth. At the end of
the interview, Jørgen Abild Andersen also addresses issues relating to Internet
governance.
First we would like to ask you about the major challenges today, and in the
coming years, for the ICT area and how CDEP approaches and works with
these challenges.
Keywords: Interview with Jørgen Abild Andersen, Chairman of Committee on Digital Economy Policy (CDEP) of OECD, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract: Netflix is the world’s leading provider of subscription-based over the top
(OTT) streaming video, television, and movies delivered over the internet
to over 30 million subscribers in 40 countries generating USD$2.5 billion
in video streaming revenue annually.1 When Netflix launched in the
Nordic countries in Q4 2012, the Nordic press called it a major threat to
incumbent pay TV provided. They suggested that consumers would give
up their current pay TV subscriptions for linear or flow TV and switch
to Netflix. A number of stories appeared about Netflix in a tete-a-tete
with DSL providers, as the OTT service is growing to account for the
majority of traffic on copper networks and the company’s public relations
practices.
As we watch the situation unfold in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, we can
see that the reality of television is not changing overnight, but that it’s evolving.
Netflix and its OTT video competitors such as HBO Nordic have a number of
challenges. Established players such as Danish YouSee, Telenor Norway and
Sweden’s Viasat and Com Hem are making competitive responses. YouSee
has suggested it will offer its cable channels in an a la carte fashion in 2014.
Consumers, while intrigued by the growing possibilities, don’t necessarily
switch to new services instantly, but free trials are certainly popular. In any case, a number of have complained that Netflix does not meet its expectations
for content.
Keywords: Netflix Comes to the Nordics: Lessons
in OTT Video
Abstract: Poland joined the EU in 2004 and still has one of the Europe’s least developed
information societies. Broadband penetration in Poland is still amongst the
lowest in the EU and significantly below the EU average.
Considering the present state of information technology, the key challenge
for Poland is to reduce the gap between Poland and other EU Member Countries
in the area of the development and implementation of information and
communication technologies. However, Poland’s accession to the European
Union and the implementation of EU regulation mechanisms accelerate the
integration of Poland’s telecommunications market with the European market.
The market reflects all the global trends, a gradually growing significance
of mobile telecommunications services, broadband Internet access, construction
of offers directed towards clients’ needs, and a strong trend towards
market consolidation, which will gradually change the previous balance of
power.
The specific problem of the Polish market is its very poor infrastructure
development and the lack of competitors on the fixed market. This translates
into limited access to services for end users particularly in the rural areas. A
much lower level of telecommunications network development in Poland than
other countries in the European Union is the reason that the circumstances and
also the effects of the implementation of some solutions of the EU regulation
model are different in Poland than in the most developed EU countries.
The aim of the paper is to examine and discuss broadband access development
in Poland and the policy factors influencing this development as well
as to examine national strategies used to stimulate service and infrastructure
competition in Poland. There are, indeed, many other factors affecting
broadband development such as the income level/distribution in the country
and the infrastructural point of departure. The paper, therefore, analyses the
implications of the policy initiatives in light of these basic conditions and the
broader context of factors influencing broadband development.
In the paper, different kinds of policy initiatives are examined – with the
‘lightest’forms of intervention first and the ‘strongest’at the end. Furthermore,
empirical evidence on the developments in access technologies and the policy
initiatives taken by the Polish government are presented. Finally, there is a
conclusion regarding the importance of the different types of public policy
initiatives for broadband take-up in Poland.
Keywords: Policy Factors Affecting Broadband
Development in Poland
Abstract: The paper researches the existing European standards for Public Safety
and Emergency (PSE) services (also called Public Protection Disaster
Relief “PPDRâ€)1, and identifies based on user studies in Denmark conflicts
between the current deployments of the standards and the user
requirements.
The aim is further to identify the potentials of new technologies for PSE.
The paper deals with policy and technology frameworks, regulatory issues
and in particular the spectrum issues in the current PPDR deployments in the
EU countries. The paper draws on the results and concepts developed in two
EU-projects.2 Experience from research projects are used to discuss new
possible solutions to the problems. We look at the development in other majormarkets and draw on developments on the Japanese and the US markets, when
it comes to the deployment of LTE3.
Keywords: Mobile standards for PSE/PPDR, TETRA, LTE, spectrum
management, deployment of standards, path dependence, lock-in and irreversibility
in the decision-making process.
Abstract: Public protection and disaster relief (PPDR) responders must manage on
different emergency situations in land, water and air. Emergency response
vehicles (ERVs) are specially equipped and on permanent standby for serious
incident response. Modern ERVs are fully of electrical, electronic and ICT
systems. However, there are possibilities of improvement in various aspects
of ERVs. That will enhance performance, effectiveness and optimum usage of
resources. The Finnish MOBI (Mobile Object Bus Interaction) research and
development project aims to create a common international ICT infrastructure
for all ERVs, based on better integration of ICT systems, applications and
services. Another aim is to extend this project to other ERVs in European
countries, permitting the standardisation of tools and technology in EU countries.
One model that gives a practical and structured framework for innovation
work is the NABC approach created by the Stanford Research Institute (SRI).
NABC highlights the market needs, solution approach, solution benefits and
competition dimensions of any solution being created. Our approach is to
divide ERVs’ ICT systems into four layers (a vehicle infrastructure and
power management layer, a communications layer, a service platform and
common services layer, and an actor-specific services layer) between which
have standardised interfaces. The benefit is that open standards ease especially
small and medium enterprises coming to the business, which improves on supply of new PPDR ICT products and degreases their prizes. In addition
to cost savings, interoperability and availability of new PPDR ICT services
improves. Traditionally good cooperation between different authorities in
Finland enables development for the whole PPDR sector at the same time.
This paper applies NABC framework for evaluating the on-going MOBI
project and its results so far, and ensuring that the project continues as a right
direction.
Abstract: We calculate the added value for society of Public Safety and Emergency (PSE)
agencies when they have a dedicated mobile wideband/broadband network to
complement the offering of the existing PSE mobile networks. The principles
of benefit valuation are demonstrated. The basic PSE operational processes
are divided into operations. The operations of an organization can be modelled
and the sub-tasks of operations utilizing improved communication tools and
applications can be redefined. The modelling and the definition of the costs
of every operation can be done using the System Dynamic analysis and Three
Viewpoint Model analysis (Martikainen and Halonen, 2011) tools. After that
the costs of the new mobile network service are estimated; the alternatives
analysed include the dedicated TEDS (TETRA Enhanced Data System) and
LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks.
The proposed approach gives answers to the three following questions:
(1) is there any benefit in building a new high speed mobile data network for
PSE agencies; (2) what is the Net Present Value (NPV) of the business case
including the costs of the new PSE wideband/broadband mobile network and
what are the social benefits that the new network makes possible, and; (3) how
can the benefits of mobile broadband/wideband communication be correlated
to population density in order to create additional value for society.
Keywords: TETRA, TEDS, PSE mobile networks, social benefits.