What resolving policy differences means and how to tackle them Director General, Telecommunications & Broadcasting Convergence Team, MIC Owing to the digitalization of broadcasting and the IT industry's rapid progress in recent years, the convergence of broadcasting with telecommunications, which has obscured the boundary between the two, has been advancing at a rapid pace in various fields. Accordingly, IT services such as IPTV, DMB, Webcasting and data broadcasting that have combined the traits of today's telecommunications and broadcasting have made their appearances on the market one after another. In the years following the scheduled completion of Broadband Convergence Network (BcN) in 2010, it seems that even the industrial structures of telecommunications and broadcasting will be fundamentally changed, along with the extension of convergence to every facet of IT businesses. Above all, the progress in the convergence is forecast to bring a global boom like one in the 1990s. Moreover, it is anticipated that such a progress can provide a good opportunity to raise the nation's competitiveness by spreading out the tide of convergence to traditional industries in addition to the ones based on new technologies such as bio and nano technologies. Based on the view that convergence presents new challenges and opportunities, the world has been swiftly gearing up to take an advantage position in securing global competitiveness. Countries like the U.S. and Australia as well as EU are engrossed in adopting new convergencebased services by making the most out of deregulations. The regulatory framework for telecom and broadcasting businesses, too, has been revamped anew so that there will be no differentiation between the two. In addition, they have been teaming up government bodies with relevant institutions for the systematic and efficient implementation of concerned polices. In Korea, too, discussions have been made to better deal with the issue. However, the current state of affairs is that the efforts to prepare a concrete policy frame for the convergence between telecommunications and broadcasting have been put off as the two industry fields have so far been developed in different sectors under different thoughts for a considerable period of time. Since this has been the case, related businesses may not properly display their business potential due to the uncertainty of government policies. Moreover, consumers may be deprived of not only the benefits of using convenient services at reasonable costs but also the rights to choose different services. Therefore, it is imperative that in order to secure a competitive edge on the global market and facilitate consumer convenience the nation overcomes the disparity of policy ideas and the level of regulations between telecommunications and broadcasting while the government comes up with a policy framework that best suits the new convergence environment. In order to formulate the new framework suitable for the era of convergence between telecommunications and broadcasting, the following principles should be considered. First, those regulations set up separately for either telecommunications or broadcasting should be remodeled for the development of new services and the industry's advancement. At the same time, new services such as IPTV should be introduced promptly by minimizing regulations concerned. Secondly, the current regulatory system based on the types of services and service providers classified by either telecommunications or broadcasting should be remodeled into a dual system branded by 'carriage' and 'content'. By doing so, it will be possible for users to freely enjoy a variety of services derived from the heightened competition among service providers while properly a d m i n i s t e r e d regulations on contents can protect users in social and cultural respects. Thirdly, it is necessary to reshape the policy drive framework currently classified by telecommunications and broadcasting and revamp regulatory bodies to effectively cope with the convergence between telecommunications and broadcasting. The new governing body in the era of convergence should be able to carry out sound policies that can maximize synergic effects in the whole sectors of the IT industry, including contents, networks, services and terminals where the convergence is being generated. Fourthly, the public interest in support of diverse, pluralistic and regional broadcasting should be firmly secured while the core concepts of public broadcasting should be reestablished to better reflect the trend in the convergence era. Above all, it is essential that concerned parties in the telecom and broadcasting business have the will to share policy ideals and philosophies, and cooperate with each other to tackle problems and resolve as soon as possible the policy issues standing with regard to the convergence. Fortunately, such policy issues are anticipated to be resolved swiftly and on a progressive and constructive footing since relevant discussions are currently underway at the government level as a whole.