Country: Côte d’Ivoire

Client: Agence des Télécommunications de Côte d’Ivoire (ATCI)

Project Title: Technical Assistance Project for the Agence des Télécommunications de Côte d’Ivoire (ATCI)

Project Description: Global Resources was sent to Côte d’Ivoire by the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) to evaluate telecommunications product and service needs for a potential satellite, VSAT and aviation sector project and determine if any of the three projects could qualify for US government assistance. New telecommunications sector laws passed in 1995 had stimulated new opportunities and encouraged entrepreneurs to invest. Our initial situation analysis revealed that in the midst of these changes the Agence des Télécommunications de Côte d’Ivoire (ATCI) needed to change its regulatory structure and approach to respond to the rapidly emerging telecommunications market Outdated policies in fact were creating market imbalances that threatened to hold back the overall modernization and development of Côte d’Ivoire’s telecommunications sector.

Global Resources assisted ATCI in the development of policies for the management of a more liberalized telecommunications market. The agency had long been responsible for establishing tariffs, ensuring compliance with technical specifications, reviewed dossiers, authorizing frequencies, issuing licenses, and monitoring value-added services. The new telecommunications laws increased this charter to include management of the sector under a variety of competitive guidelines. The leadership of ATCI were aware of the existence of regulatory guidelines used in other countries for modern sector management and wanted to learn about practices that would increase their efficiency, effectiveness and even-handedness in their dealings with the growing telecommunications private sector.

Global Resources shared a number of ideas of how US government assistance had helped regulators to learn about differing methods of telecommunications policy design and implementation, especially in a competitive market context. We provided ideas and models regarding state-of-the-art practices for competitive telecommunications sector planning and management, and discussed the pros and cons of seeking advice from industry suppliers and the relative paradigms that could influence that advice. We then worked with ACTI to define core areas where assistance would be most beneficial. These were identified as Spectrum Management, Telecommunications Operation/Network Management, and Regulation.

We then designed a Technical Assistance Program which was based in both the US and Côte d’Ivoire and included an instructional tour of US regulatory agencies and practices. The Program provided resources for ACTI to learn about regulatory policy making procedures and how these procedures affect the telecommunications industry in the US at the federal, state and local levels. Global Resources also facilitated a long-term exchange of information and ideas between ACTI and its US government counterparts on telecom sector management in a deregulating, competitive industry environment, and provided ACTI hands-on assistance in the drafting of sector regulations.

Agence des Télécommunications de Côte d’Ivoire (ACTI), merci pour nous donner l’opportunité de travailler ensemble durant cette période de transition dans le secteur de télécommunications de la Côte d’Ivoire.