Authorisation and Licensing

Licence Application and Issue Processes

Effective licensing lies at the heart of the telecommunications regulatory regime. It is key to enabling managed development of the sector by controlling market entry, imposing rights and obligations on market players, furthering competition (including by asymmetric regulation), protecting and promoting consumer interests, providing for access to finite or scarce resources, and fairly apportioning the costs of regulation among industry players.

Equally, given that a licensing regime is by nature restrictive, certain key principles need to be observed in order to ensure that it does not begin to act in a manner that unduly stifles market development. These include non-discrimination, transparency, objectivity, proportionality, accountability of the licensing authority, efficiency, timeliness, and supplier and technology neutrality. Overall, the aim of the licensing regime should be to facilitate ease of entry into market for telecommunications services whilst maintaining the standards and safeguards demanded by law.

Licences may be applied across all levels of the sector. Service providers may be licensed according to national policy and even users of services and communications equipment may be licensed, though in most markets the process is limited to an undertaking by the party concerned to observe and comply with standard conditions of use.

InterConnect Communications can assist in defining or reviewing the framework of the licensing regime and also in outlining the requirements for operator licences. We have significant experience in:

The development of licensing regimes and drafting of appropriate regulations;
Definition of appropriate licence types, spanning both individual and class licensing regimes based upon the application of common conditions to more than one licensee;
Definition of licence obligations and contingent responsibilities under fair trading and competition law;
Identification of necessary licence exemptions;
Definition of the rights and obligations attached to each licence;
The drafting of model and actual licences;
The development of formal guidelines and procedures for awarding or registering the various types of licences and authorisations, and of the corresponding mechanisms for setting licence fees.

Representative assignments include:

Advising a Central European government on the establishment and operation of a pro-competitive licensing regime;
Providing support to a Gulf States regulatory authority in formalising broadcasting licence processes and guidelines, including reviewing the form that licences should take, the procedures for issuing licences, and determining appropriate licence terms and conditions;
Reviewing and commenting on the suitability of a proposed Draft Fixed Licence for a West African regulator, including the provision of guidance, comments, feedback and proposals for amendments including alternative language as appropriate;
Developing detailed terms and conditions for a range of different licence categories for another African regulator, supported by a comparative analysis of the terms and conditions for licenses in other countries.

Key Service Areas:

Authorisation & Licensing

More Information?

For more information about InterConnect's regulatory services, please contact Fintan Healy by phone on +44 (0) 1291 638400.