By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
A new regulatory framework to be adopted as early as next year will seek to help broadcast media and telecom companies keep their edge in the increasingly competitive era of convergence.
Telecom companies and networks have separate regulators and laws, which is blamed for standing in the way of next-generation services such as Internet protocol television (IPTV).
The Korean Communication Commission said Thursday that it plans to submit a revised bill on the regulatory changes to the National Assembly in November.
Dubbed the ``basic law for broadcast and telecommunication development," the bill calls for integrating separate laws for telecom carriers and television broadcasters, including those on broadcasting, electronic communications and information promotion.
More specific rules will be introduced in the later half of next year, when policymakers plan to draw up a ``consolidated" regulatory system for conventional telecommunication and TV offerings and new services like IPTV.
``The basic law is more about defining the boundaries of the new regulatory framework, which covers all activities and measures to send or receive content through fixed line, wireless, cable and other electronic methods," said commission member Jang Seok-yeong.
``The real changes for businesses will come next year. Whether to combine the basic law and other individual laws under a single structure will be decided after 2010."
The new rules, however, will not mean the immediate elimination of older ones as the commission will phase out changes to reduce disruption.
During the transition, the commission must rule within 30 days on if a new converged service should be regulated by broadcast law or telecommunications law.
``Like the case of IPTV, discussion over the regulatory frameworks often drags on, which hurts the business interest of companies pushing the new service," said Jang.
``It's ironic that we will define the new services under old standards, but this problem will be naturally resolved when the individual laws are consolidated after 2010."
The new laws for the converged world will also complete the commission's transformation into a ``converged regulator,'' though it has struggled to mediate disputes between telecom companies and broadcasters in areas of overlap.
One area of dispute is IPTV, which offers a wide range of interactive features such as video-on-demand and data transfer atop of real-time television.
Telecom companies like KT see IPTV as a major engine of revenue growth. Securing quality content could be a problem, however, with the three major networks ― KBS, MBC and SBS ― expecting high fees for their content.