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Need independent broadcasting & telecomms regulatory body
MISA-Zimbabwe
November 30, 2007

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Introduction

This paper seeks to advance the Media Institute of Southern Africa's (MISA) position on the need for an independent regulator in the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors in Zimbabwe. To achieve this, the paper gives a background to MISA and its activities, mission and values, as well as its key achievements to date. This is followed by a discussion of the objectives of communications regulation, which include, among many others, the need to maintain order, facilitate the entry of new players and the need to promote fair competition, freedom of speech and universal access. The paper argues that public accountability, transparency and predictability are one of the major characteristics of independent communications regulators and this is supported by continental and regional covenants such as the African Charter on Broadcasting and the SADC Protocol on Information and Communication Technologies.

South Africa's Independent Communications Authority is hailed as a model independent regulator on the continent. Several comparisons with the South African situation are made in our critique of local regulators, the Posts and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe and the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe. It is argued that the manner in which the Zimbabwean regulators are constituted makes them susceptible to direct political interference. For that reason, we urge that they both need to be replaced by a truly independent communications regulator that will oversee both sectors. This new regulator's independence must be guaranteed by the law and must have financial, structural and functional independence in order to regulate the sector effectively and impartially. The paper finally argues that although modern regulators have to pay greater attention to 'new' media regulation, traditional regulatory objectives such as licensing, tariff regulation, quality of service, consumer protection and universal access are still major regulatory objectives in many countries.

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