FCC, REGULATEL sign MOU to manage regional efforts
Telecom Regulatory Board President and REGULATEL Chairman Javier Rúa-Jovet.
The Latin American Forum of Telecommunications Regulators, known as REGULATEL, and the Federal Communications Commission’s International Bureau recently signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a cooperative relationship between both organizations to direct regional initiatives.
This pact provides the legal framework for coordinating efforts to confront present and future regulatory challenges faced by the United States and Latin America, said Telecommunications Regulatory Board President Javier Rúa-Jovet, who also chairs REGULATEL this year.
“This agreement is very important because it gives the countries represented in the organizations a better way to communicate, to work together, to exchange ideas, as well as [access to] technical personnel,” Rúa-Jovet told this media outlet.
“There’s no doubt that these organizations help reconcile public policies, regarding what works and what doesn’t, on how to invest state and federal funds. Each country has different priorities and regulations,” he said.
The subjects to be further developed by the working groups include net neutrality/open Internet, spectrum management, incentives for innovation and transparency in Internet network traffic management practices, network security and cyber security, enhancing information and communications technology for people with disabilities and promoting access to broadband services, among others.
“Last November, during REGULATEL’s plenary session in San Juan, I made a proposal to the FCC’s International Bureau director, to formalize a partnership between our organizations. This is now a reality,” he said referring to Mindel de la Torre, who signed the MOU on behalf of the federal regulatory agency.
“We have signed an MoU that encourages cooperation and our respective efforts to address current and future regulatory challenges in the United States and Latin America,” said Rúa-Jovet.
This new relationship is the latest in a series of important hemispheric and international outreach efforts by REGULATEL, which includes a similar MOU formalized in 2013 with the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications and the TRB’s reestablishment of relations with regional neighbors through the Caribbean Telecommunications Union, he said.
REGULATEL brings together 23 countries from Latin America and Europe to enhance cooperation and coordination efforts amongst the several national telecommunications regulatory agencies. The Latin American members are: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela. The European members are: Spain, Portugal and Italy.
