Should the new ‘democratic’ Egypt plan to reserve spectrum cleared after anologue switch-off for broadcasting? This might seem a bit of an esoteric question to ask in a country in turmoil, with almost 10% unemployment and more than 19% of the population living in extreme poverty. But whilst managing poverty and economic crisis are priorities, experts are discussing transition plans for the media sector with the aim of creating a framework to protect democractic communication, even though analogue switch-off is still years away.
On the day Cairo held its first elections since the so called ‘revolution’ last January, a UNESCO-supported conference discussed the role of the media in the transition, and dedicated an entire morning to the OSF project: Mapping Digital Media in which the author is a partner. The conference is part of an extended intervention by the UN agency that is attempting to bring expertise to bear on the managment of the media transition during the building of a new democracy in Egypt.
The new government, which looks likely to be run by the apparently moderate, relatively liberal Muslim Brotherhood, will have to make decisions on its media framework quickly. The coincidence of the transition to democracy with the transition to digital media represents a short window of opportunity to cement democracy. Will the new regime slip back into the old game of political capture of the media? Will a moral backlash provide a smokescreen for extending censorship? Or can something be done to build a media system that offers an open, plural, public sphere for debate? The transition to digital offers opportunities – but also risks – that are technical and subtle. The management of the airwaves is a key battleground.
UNESCO recommended in its October 2011 report that the spectrum released by digital switch over should be reserved for broadcasting.
But the conference heard allegations that there is no agreed plan for reforming the Egyptian state broadcaster. What to do in a country where the main TV station employs thousands of friends and relations of the former regime? One speaker suggested that the only way forward was to pension them off. But she didn’t have a suggestion where the money was to come from. UNESCO might consider the PSB plan before suggesting that the government should award it huge chunks of valuable spectrum. Wouldn’t a more radical approach in the home of the Facebook revolution propose giving up more spectrum to mobile internet rather than more digital television. Technical constraints on spectrum use mean this could be a misleading characterisation of the choice, facing Egyptian regulators. But it is nonetheless the case that the government does control access to electromagnetic spectrum and that this is a key policy lever in a new democracy.
The transition to digital offers opportunities to use spectrum policy to reform PSBs. Restricting the spectrum available for existing broadcasters, and favouring new entrants that are independently regulated – and perhaps also using some of the released spectrum to attract investment in mobile internet infrastructure, might be a better use of the airwaves, particularly if doing so could attract some desperately needed cash to the Egyptian government.
Meanwhile in Tahrir square the protesters are still there, acting as guardians for the transition. It is not clear if beneath their slogans they are developing a plan for the more subtle power game: that played out in the space between state and media power.
My translators didn’t spot any chants or banners concerning reform of the PSB or spectrum auction design. It is a cliché to say that modern revolutions head straight for the TV stations rather than the government buildings. This Egyptian revolution may have started on Facebook, but it is yet to reach the traditional media.
Reports like this suggest that the moment of political opportunity for using mobile social media to mobilise opposition to authoritarian governments may have passed. The ‘Mozorov Dystopia’ of authoritarian governments using social media for surveillance seems to be becoming a reality across large swathes of the globe. Whilst there is therefore a lot to fear for in Egypt’s transition, events like this one also inspire hope.
The conference was Jointly sponsored by UNESCO and the Open Society Foundation and organised by the University of Westminster Arab Media Centre.
Strictly speaking, the UNESCO report suggests that PART of the digital dividend be availed to broadcast uses. This follows the position in its Media Development Indicators. However, each case does need to be considered in its specifics – and it may be that Egypt merits a situation where the totality of dividend is turned over to wireless broadband operators. On the other hand, not all spectrum is equally fit for all purposes, and it depends on exactly what is freed up by the eventual switch off of analogue (many years away). Some of that spectrum may not be suited to LTE or wimax, and might be best used for digital broadcast. On the other hand, the future could also entail some kind of hybrid system that integrates digital broadcast with broadband, using even 3G for uplink requests and digital broadcast signals for broadband download. On the other hand, there is also the question of “white space” technology (cognitive radio) coming up, which could disrupt the entire applecart. Whatever the scenario, it is likely that Egypt will – like other countries – be facing a plethora of comms possibilities in coming years. These may reinvigorate social media – and indeed extend it to many more actors. Certainly, media institutions need to be planning on what the new world means for their niche.
I’m a reporter for PolicyTracker (www.policytracker.com), which covers
radio spectrum policy issues.
Your LSE blog on post-revolutionary media policy in Egypt raises
several questions:
1. You said UNESCO recommended that spectrum freed by digital switchover
be reserved for broadcasting. Most countries, including many Arab
nations, want to use that spectrum for mobile broadband services. Do you
know where Egypt stands on this? This is a very hot topic now at the
World Radiocommunication Conference.
2. If Egypt followed UNESCO’s recommendation, wouldn’t that leave it
isolated from its neighbors and region as other governments re-allocated
the spectrum to mobile broadband?
3. Wouldn’t a reallocation to mobile broadband services also help Egypt
by expanding media services to more of the population, potentially
boosting public oversight of the government? Or would it create an even
bigger threat of state surveillance?
Thanks.
Sorry I took a while to get back to you.
There is as yet no settled Egyptian policy on this as far as I am aware. But there is at least some debate, and that is what I am trying to highlight in the post.
I refer you to the comment above by Guy Berger of Unesco. Guy is right to suggest that what it is possible/optimal to use the spectrum for is actually a very technical question which varies according to the specificities of receiver markets, topography, transmitter location and existing spectrum uses. This is what makes key decisions – such as whether to reserve spectrum for specific uses (such as broadcasting) so important and so political. I would be keen to hear more about the RRC discussions of these issues, and how that would bear upon the question of ‘isolation’ you raise.
It is worth noting of course that the recent FCC spectrum plan – as you report in the latest PolicyTracker – supports more unlicensed use, which might be an interesting solution in transitional environments such as Egypt.
Your last point of course is the big question. Whilst Morozov’s point in his book is that technology choice in itself neither favours nor undermines democracy and human rights (it all depends on how it is used), my personal hunch is that where there are genuine choices between broadcasting and extending access to the internet, it is perhaps the latter that should win. In practice however, I think direct zero-sum choices are quite rare, even in spectrum policy.
interesting Blog, can you confirm that switchover is in an early phase in june 2013 and that Egypts Analogue transmitters are still on
its hard to find information online