Sample Projects

Global Resources was initially contracted to evaluate telecommunications product and service needs for a potential satellite, VSAT and aviation sector project, and to determine if any of the three projects could qualify for US government assistance. Changing telecommunications sector laws had stimulated new opportunities and encouraged entrepreneurs to invest.

We responded to this request, but our situation analysis revealed a far more serious concern: the national telecommunications sector regulator - Agence des Télécommunications de Côte d’Ivoire (ATCI) – was operating under a number of outdated policies. The policies were creating market imbalances and were threatening, and in many circumstances, directly inhibiting the clear sector modernization and development goals that the Agency was seeking. Further, certain suppliers were leveraging the loopholes, leading to sector imbalances.

ATCI needed to change its regulatory approach to respond to the rapidly emerging telecommunications market. We obtained project funding, and worked with ATCI to develop policies for the management of a more liberalized telecommunications market. The Agency had long been responsible for establishing tariffs, ensuring compliance with technical specifications, reviewing dossiers, authorizing frequencies, issuing licenses, and monitoring value-added services. The new telecommunications laws increased this charter to include management of the sector under a variety of competitive guidelines. Global Resources additionally provided insight and guidance regarding state-of-the-art telecommunications policy design and implementation, especially in a competitive market context.

As a second project component, ATCI’s leadership team was aware of regulatory guidelines used in other countries for modern sector management and wanted guidance regarding “best practices” that would increase their efficiency, effectiveness and even-handedness in their future dealings with domestic and foreign investors. In addition to best practice case studies, we provided insight regarding competitive telecommunications sector management, and also reviewed the pros and cons of seeking advice from industry suppliers -- and the implicit biases paradigms that might influence that advice. We then worked with ACTI to define core areas where future assistance would be most beneficial. These were identified as Spectrum Management, Telecommunications Operation / Network Management, and Regulation.

Our team then designed and obtained funding for a Technical Assistance Program (which utilized resources in both the US and Côte d’Ivoire); as a result, ACTI visited key US-based regulators, and learned about modern regulatory policy making procedures at the federal (national), state (province) and local levels, and also developed key professional relationships that provided longer-term educational benefits for both country’s regulators.

Agence des Télécommunications de Côte d’Ivoire (ACTI), merci pour nous donner l’opportunité de travailler ensemble durant cette période de transition dans le secteur de télécommunications de la Côte d’Ivoire.