Broadcasting Commission Hosts IIC Conference Oct. 11-12

On Monday, October 11, hundreds of telecommunications and broadcasting regulators from all over the world will converge on Jamaica, to participate in the 35th Annual Conference of the International Institute of Communications (IIC).
The Jamaica Broadcasting Commission, in collaboration with Wireless Communications Association International (WCAI) and Caribbean Central American Action (CCAA), is hosting the IIC Conference, which will be held from October 11 to 12 at the Half Moon Hotel in Montego Bay.
Cordell Green, Executive Director of the Broadcasting Commission, told JIS News that the conference “is essentially, an opportunity for Jamaica to let people know what we are doing, and an opportunity as well to learn from others about what is going on globally”.In the first session, the topic for discussion will be: ‘Communications at a Turning Point’.
“This will be looking at the adoption of technologies that ‘by-pass’ conventional technologies; the consumer’s role in relation to technological changes and content. We are going to look at new technologies and applications, for example Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which is something that is now challenging how you regulate traditional telecommunications,” said Mr. Green.
Session two will explore the issue of ‘Communications without Boundaries’, and highlights strategies for ‘owning’ the consumer and influencing the citizen.
“We are going to look at how to define public service broadcasting, the role of Government in public service broadcasting and meeting the public interest. These are live issues, because as we speak, Jamaica is about to establish a Public Service Broadcasting mechanism,” Mr. Green told JIS News.
“We are re-licensing a great number of cable operators in Jamaica, but because of convergence, cable is now more than just the provision of some movie channels. It’s also about broadband deployment. It’s about persons being able to access telecoms and Internet via cable,” he added.
For the third session, the conference will explore: ‘Communications Development and the Role of Regulation’. Dr. Hopeton Dunn, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Creative Production and Training Centre (CPTC), one of the presenters at the conference, will speak on ‘Regulating media and telecommunications in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean’.
In session four, participants will deal with the topic: ‘Regulating New Services’.”This is very important, because there are all these new services that are emerging, changing the communications landscape and we need to think about what are the implications for regulation,” Mr. Green explained.
Following these presentations, the participants will go into breakout sessions, which will be smaller groups of experts and interested persons addressing a wide range of issues. The issues to be addressed include solutions to Spam; intellectual property matters; Internet content and the protection of minors; illegal content; international trade in communication services; broadband solutions in less-developed economies; communications security and privacy; tracking outcomes from the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS); and the future of broadcasting.
“The discussion on broadband solutions in less-developed economies is very critical for Jamaica, because broadband promises great potential to leapfrog Jamaica forward. We are doing great work but there is so much more to be done, and so the Chairman of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa will be here to speak on that,” Mr. Green told JIS News.
Persons interested in participating in the two-day conference can visit either the Broadcasting Commission’s website, www.broadcom.org or the website of the International Institute of Communications, www.iicom.org or call the Broadcasting Commission at 929 1998.