(No.57) Broadband Access and Consumer Rights

The transformative potential of broadband Internet to empower citizens and to promote social development, economic growth, cultural enrichment and democratization is well documented, and underpins the widespread adoption of strategies to promote universal access to broadband.  But it is not sufficient to rely upon the ubiquitous availability of broadband infrastructure alone to achieve this potential.  Consumers must also have a real choice of services at affordable prices, accurate and freely-available information about them, and adequate means of redress when problems arise.
A multilingual survey of 9 000 consumers in 40 countries conducted in 2011 [1] suggests that this is too often not the case.  Consumers are frequently dissatisfied with the speed of broadband service (and the accuracy of promises made about it), have difficulty understanding and comparing the costs of services, and feel that they have no recourse when things go wrong.  
Meanwhile, regulators and consumer groups alike are often still catching up with the technology. Similar work in Africa has suggested the need for increased consumer protection intervention form regulators, including through profiling issues, improving consumer education and supporting consumer groups [2].
This workshop will explore possible strategies for improving consumer protection in ICT services, particularly broadband.  These include both improved regulatory oversight of broadband service providers, and greater corporate social responsibility spurred on by consumer rights advocacy.  Case studies to be presented include: a "broadband nutrition label" to allow consumers to more easily compare prices and services; national-level campaigning against the use of contractual lock-in that limits competition; regulatory best practices to protect and empower consumers; and the establishment of an independent ombudsman service for broadband complaints.
[1] Malcolm, J & Corless, E (2012) ‘Global Consumer Survey on Broadband’, in Malcolm, J (ed) (2012) Consumers in the Information Society: Access, Fairness and Representation, pp. 75-90, Consumers International, Kuala Lumpur
[2] Lewis, C & Southwood, R (2011) 'Empowering Regulators to Protect Consumer Rights in the ICT Sector', LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg