In the proposed framework, TATT defines Over the Top Services as “Content, service or application, accessed by the public via the Internet, that may be a direct substitute for, and/or may compete with a public telecommunications and/or broadcasting service.” and that the scope of the proposed Framework is limited to OTT communications (voice and messaging) and OTT media services.
Some popular examples of OTT communications include
WhatsApp (including WhatsApp video and audio calling)
Skype
iMessage
Google Messages
FaceTime
Some popular examples of OTT media services include
Netflix
Disney+
YouTube
HBO Max
According to TATT, “This Framework presents the Authority’s proposed strategies and recommendations to address OTT services accessed in Trinidad and Tobago.”
“The Framework is intended to:
present the definition of OTTs adopted by the Authority.
outline the policy considerations for OTTs, including challenges and opportunities
examine approaches adopted internationally and their relevance within the local context.
present the Authority’s short-term and long-term strategies for addressing OTTs within its legislative framework.
propose recommendations for the harmonisation of OTT-based policies and regulations at the regional level.
explore options for OTT providers’ investment within the industry, inclusive of infrastructure and local content development.”
Therefore this document sets out how Trinidad and Tobago users will be able to interact (or not) with OTT services in the future.
Interested persons are asked to submit comments on this document in accordance with the TATT’s Public Consultation Comment Submission Form on or before Monday 26th September 2022.
In a Ministry of Digital Transformation press release on July 29 2022, the Ministry of Digital Transformation (MDT ; https://mdt.gov.tt/) announced the meeting of four technical working groups comprising “skilled nationals and members of our diaspora” on Wednesday 27th July 2022 to begin the preparatory work towards Trinidad and Tobago’s National Digital Transformation Strategy for 2023-2026.
Stages for developing a Trinidad and Tobago National Digital Transformation Strategy 2023-2026 from July 2022
According to a slide accompanying the press release, there will be several steps starting from July 2022 to January 2023 :
Step 1 – Initiation (presumably the convening of the four technical working groups)
Step 2 – Assessing the Digital Environment
Step 3 – Creating a Compelling Vision for National DT
Step 4 – Action Planning of Prioritised Projects
Step 5 – Implementation ; Monitoring and Evaluation
Steps 4 and 5 has the note “October 2022 – Submission to Cabinet”
The text of the press release from MDT is as follows :
Work Commences Towards TT National Digital Transformation Strategy
Four (4) Technical Working Groups (TWGs) comprising skilled nationals and members of our diaspora met on Wednesday 27th July, 2022, to officially begin the preparatory work towards our new National Digital Transformation Strategy for the period 2023 – 2026.
Speaking at the virtual launch this morning, Minister of Digital Transformation, Senator the Honourable Hassel Bacchus emphasised that the strategy is not only about transformation but about ensuring that no one is left behind. “Everything that we are doing is for our customers – this means citizens, public officers, business-persons, the diaspora – all stakeholders. This is for Trinidad and Tobago.” He thanked the members of the Technical Working Groups who said “YES” to the call to contribute, “YES”, to the call to serve the country, and “YES” to the challenge to carve out a new way of creating a pathway for the future for T&T.
The new Digital Strategy will take into account the gains achieved by previous strategic documents which have guided national ICT strategy – fastforward (2003-2008), smarTT (2014- 2018), and the ICT Blueprint, which covered the period 2018 to the end of 2022. It will also seek to incorporate the principles of co-creation, collaboration and communication.
In the coming weeks, members of the public will be invited to contribute their ideas, comments and feedback through different public engagement channels. The Working Groups will utilise all of the ideas coming in to create the vision. They will also source strategic information, advice and guidance from various digital assessments and reports, including the Digital Readiness Assessment (DRA) conducted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) this year.
Initial findings of the UNDP DRA Assessment report, which were shared with the TWGs at the session on Wednesday, show that there is a strong foundation for digital transformation and several opportunities exist for enhancement of our digital landscape. The UNDP, IDB, along with other local, regional and international agencies and stakeholders have committed to partnering with TT in its ambitious vision to have the National DT Strategy ready for implementation by January 2023.
Mr. Devindra Ramnarine, Digital Transformation Advisor, in his brief remarks commented that the MDT and by extension T&T will achieve its digital ambitions by being agile and learning from its mistakes, by building on the natural creativity of our people and by taking “moko jumbie steps” that will propel us forward in the shortest time possible.
More information on the public engagement will be provided soon. In the meantime, persons are invited to engage with the Strategy team by sending ideas, comments or queries to transformtt@mdt.gov.tt, and visit the Ministry of Digital Transformation’s website mdt.gov.tt for more info.
The scope of the proposed National Emergency Communcations Plan is to:
“1. identify and facilitate necessary upgrades to the existing land mobile radiocommunications system, enabling all emergency/disaster responders to communicate and share information on a reliable, flexible telecommunications and ICT system across all agencies, in the event of a threat or hazard, as needed and when authorised.
2. identify a contingency system which allows emergency/disaster response agencies to maintain communications in the event of damage to or destruction of their primary telecommunications and ICT systems infrastructure.
3. develop resilient systems for public notifications, alerts and warnings.
4. establish systems and processes for the urgent restoration of basic telecommunications and ICT services (voice and data) in affected areas.
5. propose appropriate upgrades for the reporting of local emergencies/disasters by the public, to include voice, video and data messages.
6. establish a contingency emergency/disaster communications system for contacting regional and international agencies.
7. identify how to include the assistance of amateur operators during emergency events.”
“The Special Select Committee appointed to consider and report on the Sexual Offences (Amendment) (No.3) Bill, 2021 is inviting comments on the Bill.
The purpose of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) (No.3) Bill, 2021 is to amend the Sexual Offences Act, Chap. 11:28.
The Bill seeks to establish:
1. the offence of voyeurism where one engages in the Act for the purpose of deriving sexual gratification for themselves or another or for the purpose of causing humiliation and distress to another person;
2. an offence for any person to engage in the capturing and distribution of intimate images, without the consent and reasonable belief of consent from the individual who forms the subject matter of said image;
3., the penalty for committing the abovementioned offences on summary conviction to a fine of $250,000.00 and two (2) years imprisonment or upon conviction on indictment to a fine of $750,000.00 and five (5) years’ imprisonment; and certain exceptions in which it shall not be deemed an offence for any person to engage in the abovementioned offences.”
The Committee is inviting members of the public to submit comments by February 18 2022.
What are your thoughts of the bill? The Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society has often commented on many ICT related issues and policies in Trinidad and Tobago and abroad. Let us know via email at info@ttcs.tt
TATT’s Discussion Paper “examines both sides of the net neutrality debate within the context of Trinidad and Tobago and proposes guiding principles and recommendations for net neutrality. It also provides a discussion on the applicability of OTT [Over The Top] regulation under the current legislative framework and proposes recommendations for their authorisation and regulation.”
Furthermore, “the objectives of this Discussion Paper are to: i. explore the nature of OTT services as they relate to voice, media and messaging. ii. present the key principles underlying both sides of the net neutrality debate. iii. examine the policy issues relating to net neutrality and OTT services. iv. propose guiding principles for net neutrality in Trinidad and Tobago. v. make recommendations for the regulation of net neutrality and OTTs in Trinidad and Tobago.”
These series of posts on the Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society’s website documents the various Information and Communication Technology (ICT) related laws and policies that have been introduced and/or proposed in Trinidad and Tobago either in the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament or by various Government ministries, and the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT) since 1999.
The Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society has commented on many of these policies and links to our comments have also been provided.
Furthermore. we have also linked to local copies of policies that have disappeared with the removal and/or redesign of government websites over time.
Laws are introduced and passed in the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago which consists of the President of Trinidad and Tobago and two bodies, a House of Representatives and a Senate. The House of Representatives has forty one (41) elected representatives of the constituencies in Trinidad and Tobago. The Senate has 31 senators appointed by the President, sixteen on the advice of the Prime Minister ; six on the advice of the Leader of the Opposition; and nine Independents appointed by the President.
Proposed laws are introduced in either in the House of Representatives or in the Senate as a Bill (Note: certain types of Bills known as “Money Bills” cannot be introduced in the Senate) . The Bill is debated and after a vote, is passed with or without amendments. This Bill (as passed) is then introduced in the other chamber of Parliament where it is similarly debated, possibly amended and voted on.
If there are no amendments to the Bill in the second chamber, then the Bill is passed.
If there are amendments to the Bill in the second chamber, the amendments have to be voted by the chamber where the Bill was first introduced.
Once the Bill in its final form has been approved by both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the Bill as passed becomes an Act. Depending on the the legislation, the Act comes into effect on the Date of Assent, and/or when proclaimed by the President.
allow for the interception and recording of communications from prisons and vehicles used to transport prisoners;
authorise officers to apply for a warrant to obtain stored communication and stored data from a telecommunications service provider;
permit officers to disclose the stored communication and the stored data;
establish the procedure for the disclosure of sensitive information; and
allow for intercepted information to be admissible as evidence in any proceedings.
From the Bill Essentials of the Interception of Communications (Amendment) Bill, 2020
Because The Interception of Communications (Amendment) Bill, 2020 is modifying the Interception of Communications Act 2010, the Bill reads about changing/removing words in this particular section of the Act, it is very hard to understand what the final Interception of Communication Act will become if the Bill is passed.
The Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society has therefore attempted to more clearly identify what the Interception of Communications (Amendment) Bill 2020 introduced in Trinidad and Tobago Parliament in February 2020 will do to the Interception of Communications Act 2010 by creating a Google doc showing the proposed specific changes to the 2010 Interception of Communications Act and what the proposed final Act will look like. The Google doc has comments enabled so that a decision can be taken whether we should attempt to submit a formal comment.
excerpt from TATT’s discussion paper on net neutrality
The Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society (TTCS) will be having a F2F meeting on Saturday October 13 2018 from 1pm at Engineering Consultants, 112A Edward Street (corner of Oxford and Edward Streets), Port of Spain.
What is Net Neutrality? From Wikipedia: Net neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers treat all data on the Internet equally, and not discriminate or charge differently by user, content, website, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or method of communication.
About Over the Top Services (OTT)
OTT refers to “services that a customer may use which rides on top of a network to which the customer is connected” (CANTO, 2014) – which covers anything that is sent and received over the Internet from webpages to email to Voice over IP (VoIP) and video chat services (like Skype, Whatsapp, Google Duo), Messaging services (like Whatsapp, Apple iMessage, Google Allo) to video and audio streaming (like YouTube, Netflix, Facebook Video).
About TATT’s discussion paper on net neutrality and OTT Services in Trinidad and Tobago
In TATT’s discussion paper, TATT proposes several guiding principles and policy recommendations for Net Neutrality and OTT Services in Trinidad and Tobago. These proposed principles and recomendations WILL impact current and future Internet users and businesses in Trinidad and Tobago in how we use the Internet. Please therefore read the discussion paper and contribute to the TTCS response to the discussion paper (Google doc, no login needed) before October 12 2018 by following the links below, and read about TATT’s proposed principles and recommendations for Net Neutrality and OTT Services.
TATT proposed Guiding Principles for Net Neturality
Principle 1: Reasonable Traffic Management
The Authority recognises that well-functioning broadband networks require operators to manage their networks reasonably.
Traffic management techniques that are reasonable and serve to address specific needs should be allowed.
Principle 2: No Unreasonable Discrimination
The Authority proposes net neutrality rules that specifically prohibit network operators from intentionally downgrading and/or blocking lawful content, applications and/or services.
Discriminatory practices may be allowed for societal issues such as: bridging the digital divide, public safety, emergency situations, law enforcement and national security issues, and child pornography.
Principle 3: Encouraging Investment
Net neutrality policy decisions should ensure that market opportunities and investment prospects are not unduly disrupted.
Net neutrality policy decisions should encourage a climate of regulatory certainty that incentivises investment, e.g., through sector stability and the expectation of reasonable rates of return on investment opportunities.
Principle 4: Transparency
Network operators should disclose their network practices inclusive of traffic management practices and application-specific behaviour.
The disclosure of traffic management information that is commercially sensitive in nature, or which may compromise the security of a network, should be exempted from the principle of transparency.
Principle 5: Promoting Local Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Any policy framework on net neutrality should be guided by the stimulation of local innovation and entrepreneurship.
TATT’s proposed policy recommendations for net neutrality
On Blocking and Throttling
An ISP should not prevent (through blocking) end users from freely accessing and/or providing lawful information, content, services and applications.
Subject to the principle of reasonable traffic management, an ISP should not intentionally restrict, alter, degrade or impair specific content, services or applications.
On Paid Prioritisation and Zero-Rated Pricing
The Authority proposes penalising harmful and proven offences as opposed to the absolute banning of paid prioritisation and zero-rating practices.
Each case should be evaluated on its individual merit and regulatory action would only be warranted where there is violation of one or more of the guiding principles.
Classification 1: Functionally Equivalent OTT Services
OTTs which are functionally equivalent to traditional services and use numbering resources to connect to the PSTN [Public Switch Telephone Network] should be regulated in the same manner as traditional telecommunications services.
Amendments to the Authority’s Authorisation Framework will be required to reflect classification 1 OTT services.
Classification 2: Other OTT Services
The Authority may consider taking a light-handed regulatory approach to OTT services not requiring numbering or spectrum resources.
Amendments to the Authority’s Authorisation Framework will be required to reflect classification 2 OTT services.
General regulatory controls should be applied to these services. These include, inter alia, cybersecurity, data protection, child pornography, intellectual property rights, national security and privacy controls.
