prior  to  the  introduction  of  competition.  At  the  same  time,  the  present  numbering   allocation  and  assignment  procedures  will  be  revised  to  correspond  to  the  requirements   of  a  competitive  regime.     8.9 Customer  premises  equipment     In  relation  to  the  sale  and  installation  of  Customer  Premises  Equipment  (CPE),  the  only   requirement  on  suppliers  will  be  that  all  equipment  must  conform  to  the  relevant   international  standards  and  in  no  way  negatively  affect  the  operation,  reliability  or   integrity  of  the  network.   9 International  connections  and  Gateway   There  will  be  no  restrictions  in  the  new  regulatory  environment  which  would  prevent  an   operator  from  positioning  international  gateway  infrastructure  outside  of  Kiribati,  as  long   as  Kiribati  does  not  have  a  submarine  optical  fibre  connection  between  Kiribati  and  the   outside  world.  The  Government  acknowledges,  in  fact,  that  there  may  be  significant   advantages  attendant  in  placing  a  gateway  at  a  location  where  direct  optical  fiber  access   is  available,  including  improved  network  performance,  increased  network  utilization  and   reliability,  and  reduced  satellite  costs  potentially  leading  to  reduced  retail  costs  for   consumers.  At  all  times,  gateway  infrastructure  will  be  subject  to  Kiribati  law,  and   regulation  by  the  TAK,  regardless  of  whether  it  is  situated  within  or  outside  of  Kiribati.     Government,  in  co-­‐operation  with  TAK  and  stakeholders,  will  explore  the  possibilities  for   future  submarine  fibre  optic  cable  connections  between  Kiribati  and  the  outside  world.   Some  similar  countries  have  succeeded.     10 Radio  spectrum   Radio  spectrum  is  a  finite  resource.  Radio  spectrum  will  be  licensed  separately  from   operator  licensing  in  order  to  ensure  that  it  is  managed  effectively,  efficiently  and  that  it  is   put  to  good  use  in  the  interests  of  the  people  of  Kiribati.  As  noted  in  Section  8.1,  the  TAK   will  develop  procedures  which  will  allow  operator  and  spectrum  licensing  to  be  dealt  with   in  a  co-­‐ordinated  manner.  Due  to  the  different  nature  of  the  radio  spectrum  resource,  an   operator  license  will  not  confer  any  entitlement  to  a  radio  spectrum  license.   10.1 Spectrum  management   The  TAK  will  be  responsible  for  developing  and  publishing  the  spectrum  and  frequency   allocation  plan  for  Kiribati  for  the  assignment  of  frequencies  and  frequency  licensing  and   monitoring  in  the  ICT  sector.  Individual  spectrum  licensing  will  be  required  where  co-­‐ ordination  is  required  between  users  of  spectrum  to  minimize  interference  and  other     9