Category: Next Practices Live
Disaster Preparedness: How Governments and Infrastructure Providers Can Prepare for the 2020 Hurricane Season on July 7, 2020
By Mark Jamison
Preparing for natural disasters is hard during normal times, but it is especially difficult during a pandemic. Economic resources are low, people's anxieties are high, and coordination and rapid response are made harder by our inabilities to congregate and work together. How are countries and leaders handling this unprecedented moment? Garfield “Garry” Sinclair and Dr. [...]
COVID-19 has made it traditional methods for managing regulation and for engaging stakeholders. But the pandemic also made management and engage more important than ever! What have people tried? What have they learned? Two respected regulators joined Next Practices Live to share their thoughts and experiences. Both are recent PURC alumni. Commissioner Ram Prasad Dhital [...]
How will the pandemic change telecommunications markets? A conversation with John Reid on June 18, 2020
By Mark Jamison
We receive a lot of questions about how the pandemic will impact telecommunications markets. This is a critical question. Since the 1990s, most of the world has relied upon competition to resolve issues of telecommunications deployment, prices, and quality. Will the pandemic change this? John Reid, the former CEO of Cable & Wireless, joined Next [...]
Ensuring water and sanitation during the pandemic: The experience of NWSC of Uganda on June 16, 2020
By Mark Jamison
What do telecom operators and water operators have in common during the pandemic? Plenty, if you look at what National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) has been doing in Uganda. NWSC has taken some interesting steps to manage during through COVID-19. NWSC has worked with Mobile Telephone Network (MTN) to finance expansion of water supply. [...]
Is broadband now a public utility? A conversation with Scott Wallsten on June 11, 2020
By Mark Jamison
All I can say is, "Wow! I never expected that!" I thought the days of telecommunications being considered a public utility were far behind us. Then came the pandemic! Suddenly broadband seems as important as electricity. And some people believe that hands-on, utility style regulation will do a better job than competition for delivering needed [...]