The Public Interest in Telecommunications and the Internet
Dr. Maria Michalis*
University of Westminster
[Paper presented at the conference on Rebuilding Egyptian Media for a Democratic Future in Cairo, March 2011]
This paper examines the public interest in relation to telecommunications and internet. It aims to establish the importance of these two sectors and show the interdependency of three elements: access to the physical infrastructure, access to content, and skills. The paper first sets out the ideal scenario and then explains why telecommunications and the internet matter. It moves on to define the public interest in telecommunications and the internet, and goes on to touch on some important issues like investment and universal service. It ends with a summary of the main points.
On March this year, the conference on Rebuilding Egyptian Media for a Democratic Future took place in Cairo. The conference was attended by 59 media, communication and law scholars and professionals from Egypt and 15 other countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, India, Jordan, Lithuania, Palestine, Romania, Serbia, South Africa, USA, UK), as well as groups of Egyptian university students, and was addressed by 30 speakers representing 19 institutions, including universities, broadcasters, media production companies, non-governmental organizations and one intergovernmental body (UNESCO).
*Maria Michalis is Principal Lecturer in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Westminster and the author of Governing European Communications (Lexington, 2007). She specialises in: the relationship between international and national communication markets and regulation; policy issues of technological convergence; local access competition and broadband technologies. Her articles have appeared in journals such as Telecommunications Policy, Convergence, and the European Journal of Communication.