responses to greater capabilities and expertise as well as lower costs of regional players. Although it may appear that embracing regionalisation may have a negative effect on local jobs and businesses, the Government does not believe that an artificial protection of local ICT sector players is an appropriate response. Such protection would increase prices, constrain innovation and limit offerings for ICT services and products, which are crucial inputs into the general socio-economic development. A protection-based approach would also be unsustainable, as regional counterparts embrace more open markets. Early and effective opening of the telecommunications market proved that Vanuatu stand to benefit from embracing, rather than resisting change. Therefore the Government intends to apply the same approach in relation to regionalisation and internationalisation of ICT markets. The Government is therefore committed, especially via an enhanced collaboration with its counterparts regionally and internationally as well as regional and international organisations, to develop and implement effective solutions that would embrace benefits of regionalisation and internationalisation, at the same time offering appropriate responses to challenges presented by these processes. “Squeezing-the-Assets” and “Thinking-of-a-Greater-Good” Vanuatu’s challenging market conditions make it crucial to consider ways to minimise costs and maximise efficient utilisation of ICT investments—not only for individual stakeholders, but nationally. This is not just about marginal affordability of ICTs. In many cases, this is crucial to cross the feasibility threshold, and is a question of whether a significant part of the Vanuatu’s population will obtain access to ICTs at all. The Government also believes that it is important to deliberately consider a potential of wider positive effects of ICT development projects that could originally be envisaged to meet rather narrow needs.” In the context above, the Government recognises that access to ICTs could be significantly expanded by enhancing the use of existing infrastructure and facilities, including facilities originally deployed to service specific needs or entities (e.g., connecting specific educational institutions, or banks). The Government will therefore encourage, especially in more remote locations, replacing an exclusive use of ICT facilities with an “anchor tenant” approach, whereby an initial user of such facilities allow and, where appropriate, actively enable and participate in providing such facilities, infrastructure and services to satisfy other existing and future needs in such locations and communities. This will apply not only to the ICT infrastructure as such, but also to supportive infrastructure (e.g., electricity, including an ability to charge end-user devices). The Government also believes that it is important to deliberately consider a potential of wider positive effects of ICT development projects that could Approaches and Principles 45