IGF 2019 WS #198
Over the Top (OTT) Services - Challenges and Opportunities

Organizer 1: Leonard Obonyo, Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation

Speaker 1: Fargani Tambeayuk, Technical Community, African Group
Speaker 2: Martin Koyabe, Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization
Speaker 3: Gisa Fuatai Purcell, Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization

Moderator

Leonard Obonyo, Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization

Online Moderator

Irene Nakaggwa, Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization

Rapporteur

Saiful Siddeky, Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization

Format

Panel - Auditorium - 60 Min

Policy Question(s)

What is the opportunities for affordability and accessibility by leveraging on OTTs?
What are the regulatory challenges brought about by OTTs (Nationally and Regionally)?
What are the possible collaborations and partnerships from a multistakeholder perspective in relation to OTT?
How can we provide we provide an enabling framework for provision of OTT services to benefit all stakeholders?
What is the way forward in addressing OTT services an emerging technology?

SDGs

GOAL 5: Gender Equality
GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
GOAL 10: Reduced Inequalities
GOAL 17: Partnerships for the Goals

Description: Agenda
1. Panel Introductions
2. Presentation of the OTT Study report
3. Panellists contributions
i. Industry perspective (OTT Player like Facebook etc)
ii. Regulatory Perspective (Government)
iii.Consumer perspective (Diverse views)
4. General discussions on challenges and opportunities of OTT services (Audience)
5. Conclusion and way forward

Expected Outcomes: The output of the discussions will enable future deployment of OTT services to be conducted in a manner that addresses the interests and concerns of all stakeholders to ensure maximum benefits to the consumers.

The moderator will give a chance to panellists and audience to brainstorm on the challenges and opportunities of OTT services.

Relevance to Theme: The global information and communications technology (ICT) industry has evolved over the past decades from an era where it was largely a monopoly dominated by single state owned entities providing basic telecommunication services to citizens, to an era where the industry has become liberalized with multiple players offering various forms of ICT/telecommunication services. This liberalisation has enabled competition in the industry, which in turn has generated significant growth and innovation making it unarguably one of the fastest growing and most innovative industries in the world

The session will seek to inform participants at the IGF of the OTT study results and outcomes and discuss the way forward in terms of improving the understanding of the OTT challenges and opportunities Nationally, Regionally and Globally.

Relevance to Internet Governance: The objective of the OTT study is to provide a basis for multistakeholder consultations in a number of jurisdictions, a good practice operational framework for OTT service providers, including policymakers and regulators around the globe. It is expected that this framework will enable all stakeholders including ICT policymakers, ICT regulators, network operators, OTT service providers and the consumers facilitate the deployment of OTT services in a manner that addresses all their concerns.

Online Participation

We are planning to make use of the IGF official online tool by creating awareness to stakeholders and encourage the ones who cannot be onsite to use the online tool.

Proposed Additional Tools: Social media including facebook, twitter among athers