7 Strengthening  administration  of  the   telecommunications  sector     7.1 Ministry  of  Communications,  Transport  and  Tourism  Development     The  Ministry  of  Communications,  Transport  and  Tourism  Development  will  take  on  a   more  explicit  policy  setting  role  for  the  ICT  sector.  The  near  future  will  require   development  of  legislation  at  least  in  order  to  give  effect  to  Government  policy  for  the   sector.  A  programme  will  be  developed  for  strengthening  the  capacity  of  the  Ministry  to   meet  the  requirements  of  the  new  role.     7.2 Independent  and  proportionate  regulation   The  Government  will  amend  the  Telecommunications  Act  2004  to  provide  for   independent  and  proportionate  telecommunications  regulation  which  promotes  fair   competition,  and  transparent  and  predictable  regulatory  actions.  International  experience   shows  that  these  measures  are  critical  in  encouraging  private  investment  in  the  sector.     The  regulator,  the  Telecommunications  Authority  of  Kiribati  (TAK),  will  be  legally,   institutionally  and  financially  independent  from  Government.  It  will  perform  its  functions   independently  from  the  policy-­‐setting  role  and  ownership  interests  of  the  Government.   The  TAK  will  provide  reports  on  its  activities  to  the  Minister  of  Communication,  but  it  will   not  be  subject  to  direction  by  the  Minister  or  Government.     The  role  of  Government  in  the  telecommunications  sector  will  be  to  set  the  overall  policy   direction  for  telecommunications  development  and  enact  the  necessary  laws  and   regulations  in  support  of  Government  policy.    The  TAK  will  be  responsible  for   implementing  Government  policy  and  for  regulating  the  ICT  sector,  including  in  relation  to   competition  and  consumer  matters.  It  will  be  self-­‐funded  through  licensing  fees.   The  TAK  will  exercise  regulatory  forbearance  and  will  only  intervene  in  the  market  in   certain  limited  circumstances.  It  is  intended  that,  to  the  greatest  extent  possible,  prices   and  services  will  be  set  by  the  market.  In  the  event  that  intervention  is  necessary,  the  TAK   will  have  the  authority  to  get  conclusive  outcomes  effectively.  The  TAK  will  be   empowered  to:   • • • • • •   issue  licenses  and  monitor  license  compliance,     promote  and  enforce  fair  competition,     regulate  tariffs,  interconnection  and  infrastructure  sharing,   protect  consumers  interest,     administer  mechanisms  for  the  supply  of  services  to  the  Outer  Islands,   assign  and  monitor  frequencies,     5