PRIVATIZATION OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES: FOCUSING ON THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS SECTOR AS ANALYTICAL GUIDEPOST FOR COMPLETING THE WORK
September 20 - 24, 2004

Intended Audience

This course will be particularly timely for regulators, officers or employees of existing telecom licensees, attorneys for or employees of entities that plan to seek a telecom license, the investment community, consumer representatives, public interest advocates.

Course Objectives

Using telecommunications sector as a guidepost, the course in a discusses how market liberalization is expected to improve underperforming state assets and provide more efficient products and services to the consuming public. Significantly, it discusses the need for the early establishment of a transparent regulatory framework that encourages greater access to advanced communications, and is structured to operate in a transparent environment with a public interest mandate. In sum, this course emphasizes the on-going work that must be undertaken as part of the privatization process, rather than focusing on the early stage analyses and assessments that typically drive a government's decision to privatize.

Course Director: Curtis White

Curtis White is the president of Allied Communications, Inc., a Washington, D.C. based competitive carrier specializing in bundled and broadband products and services. Allied designed and developed the "Sm@rt Home Community" prototype in Washington, D.C. now the national model for deploying advanced communications in underserved communities. He has expertise in the areas of domestic and international communications including licensing, joint ventures, and multi-party negotiations. His regulatory expertise include common carrier, cable, wireless services (cellular, PCS, LMDS, and mobile satellites, broadcast and DBS). He earned his JD from the Georgetown University Law Centre, where he also served as an adjunct professor of communications law, and undergraduate degree form Florida A&M University. He maintains his memberships in the Bars of the District of Columbia, most U.S. District Courts of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Course Advisor: Dr. Paul Obo Idornigie

Dr. Idornigie is a graduate of Anglia University, Essex, UK. He taught Commercial Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Jos and is a senior lecturer at the Nigerian Law School. He has been involved in drafting legislative bills like the Competition Bill, Privatization and Commercialization Bill and Revenue Allocation Formula Bill. He is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries and currently an Assistant Director (General Counsel) with the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Abuja.

Course Outline

THE EMERGING COMPETITIVE MARKETPLACE

	National social issues, penetration, reliability, economies of scale, and potential for monopoly abuse
	Establishment of telecommunications policy regulation
	National and international rules, regulations and policies governing telecom licensees

SYSTEM INTERCONNECTION

	Carrier interconnection
	Dispute resolution

VOIP services vis-a-vis existing licenses

	Obtaining foreign registrations and collocations in major hub markets
	Approaches for pursuing least call routing of foreign traffic

	Landing Licenses
	Licensing of wireline and wireless gateway platforms
	Intercarrier agreements for transit and backhaul traffic

 NEW ENTRANT LICENSING AND FINANCING

	Licensing procedures for the competitive environment
	Financing considerations
	Non-traditional carriers

 UNIVERSAL SERVICE

Policies and procedures to help increase teledensity and advance the public's access to the telecommunications networks privatization strategies

 SPECTRUM PLANNING

	Ensuring future capacity for users and service providers
	Planning models and regulatory concepts for accelerating connectivity (telemedicine, distance learning)

Course Location

Conference Centre, Hill Station Tourist Hotel, Jos, Nigeria

Course Tuition

$800 USD (=N=90,000.00) to cover the cost of tuition, seminar lunches and receptions, tea/coffee breaks, seminar materials, bags & CD-ROMs

To register, please complete application form and send along with your current CV or resume to ILI-Nigeria office