Electronic communications regulation in Europe : an overview of past and future problems

For many years, electronic communications has been one of the most important areas of policy intervention or the European Union. Liberalisation and privatisation of the telecommunications industry were very important topics of the policy debate in the two decades from 1990 to 2010. In these years, the EU developed a sophisticated regulatory framework aspiring to the principle of favouring the entrance of new players in the sector and characterised by a strong pro-competition flavour. More recently, however, the necessity of mobilising important investments for the creation of new Next Generation Networks, capable of delivering all the benefits of the digital revolution to European citizens, has cast doubts on the validity of the established framework. This paper discusses the solutions adopted during the liberalisation process and summarizes some of the key future challenges to the existing regulatory framework

A cell outage management framework for dense heterogeneous networks

In this paper, we present a novel cell outage management (COM) framework for heterogeneous networks with split control and data planes-a candidate architecture for meeting future capacity, quality-of-service, and energy efficiency demands. In such an architecture, the control and data functionalities are not necessarily handled by the same node. The control base stations (BSs) manage the transmission of control information and user equipment (UE) mobility, whereas the data BSs handle UE data. An implication of this split architecture is that an outage to a BS in one plane has to be compensated by other BSs in the same plane. Our COM framework addresses this challenge by incorporating two distinct cell outage detection (COD) algorithms to cope with the idiosyncrasies of both data and control planes. The COD algorithm for control cells leverages the relatively larger number of UEs in the control cell to gather large-scale minimization-of-drive-test report data and detects an outage by applying machine learning and anomaly detection techniques. To improve outage detection accuracy, we also investigate and compare the performance of two anomaly-detecting algorithms, i.e., k-nearest-neighbor- and local-outlier-factor-based anomaly detectors, within the control COD. On the other hand, for data cell COD, we propose a heuristic Grey-prediction-based approach, which can work with the small number of UE in the data cell, by exploiting the fact that the control BS manages UE-data BS connectivity and by receiving a periodic update of the received signal reference power statistic between the UEs and data BSs in its coverage. The detection accuracy of the heuristic data COD algorithm is further improved by exploiting the Fourier series of the residual error that is inherent to a Grey prediction model. Our COM framework integrates these two COD algorithms with a cell outage compensation (COC) algorithm that can be applied to both planes. Our COC solution utilizes an actor-critic-based reinforcement learning algorithm, which optimizes the capacity and coverage of the identified outage zone in a plane, by adjusting the antenna gain and transmission power of the surrounding BSs in that plane. The simulation results show that the proposed framework can detect both data and control cell outage and compensate for the detected outage in a reliable manner

Assessing the implications of local governance on street trading: a case of Cape Town's inner city

The significance of the informal economy in developing countries has long been established however, this is not reflected in the governance of informal economic activities in these states. Although restricted the informal economy contributes significantly to the Gross Domestic Product of developing countries and to the reduction of unemployment. In South Africa the abolishment of apartheid led to the rapid urbanisation of major cities and with it an increase in street trade which is recognised under the Business Act No. 76 of 1991. However, many authors have argued that street trade is still restricted in urban centres and remains marginalised due to the restrictive governance approaches adopted by local authorities. Hence the purpose of this study is to assess the implications of Cape Town's local governance approach for street traders in the inner city. Using a qualitative research method, the case study, this study explores the lived experiences of traders in the inner city and their relationship with the local authority . The study used interviews, primary document reviews and direct observations as the research techniques to gather information and explore the implications of the governance approach adopted by the local authority on trader's livelihoods and working experiences. The local authority was found to pursue urban planning initiatives, such as the redevelopment of Cape Town Station, in order to attract investment and formal businesses at the expense of street traders. It was found that the local authority's governance approach to street trading serves to marginalise traders and does not include them in urban planning and development. Furthermore the study established a lack of inclusive planning in the formulation of policy and implementation of strategies that impact on trader's livelihoods