Finland cites need to adapt to rapid flow of technology

The Ministry of Transport and Communications of Finland noted yesterday the need for developing countries to immediately adapt to the flow of rapidly developing technologies if they are to achieve global competitiveness.

Minister Olli-Pekka Heinonen stressed that governments should address the issues of deregulations and convergence which are the trends worldwide.

Heinonen led a delegation of Finnish businessmen engaged in information technology and telecommunications industries who came for a two-day trade visit to Manila.

Countries, he said, should be open to competition by removing monopolies and allowing the entry of new players.

Once the industry is deregulated, Heinonen said that licensing policies for telecom players should be more transparent and efficient so as to encourage investment opportunities.

At the same time, he stressed that legislations should be technologically neutral if convergence of IT, broadcast and telecom is to take place.

"If we are to provide policies, they should not be specific and should focus more on technology, otherwise, they might only hamper the development of the sector," he said.

Companies, Heinonen said, should be allowed to use different technologies with the consumers ultimately deciding which to support.

For instance, he said that in an island country like the Philippines, it is up for the telecom firms and the users to determine which will best suit their requirements, whether fixed lines or mobile phones.

Although the Philippine market has been deregulated since 1993, the government still does not have a clear cut policy on convergence.

As a result, telecom companies cannot engage in broadcast due to the foreign ownership issue despite the emergence of multimedia technologies and applications.

Meanwhile, Heinonen said that the Philippines has a strong chance to become an IT and telecoms leader in Southeast Asia due to its high level of literacy, a strong engineering sector and a growing telecoms density. --