Biography
Now a Visiting Senior Fellow in the Department of Media and Communications, Claire Milne has had a long and varied career with telecommunications policy as its central theme. Since 1989 she has worked as an independent consultant, providing policy and regulatory advice in dozens of countries on all continents, including recently in The Bahamas, Bhutan and Iraq. In parallel she has served on several public bodies in the UK, including the premium rate service regulator PhonepayPlus (then ICSTIS) and the Internet Watch Foundation. In 2015 she was awarded an MBE for services to the telecommunications sector. Her early career was with BT, where her responsibilities included network engineering, marketing strategy and regulation; she has degrees in Mathematics and Statistics.
Interests and activities
Claire's abiding interest has been with socially valuable uses of telecommunications and information technologies. This has led to research in the area of universal service and especially affordability of telecommunications. More broadly, she has long been involved with consumer interests in telecommunications, especially through the voluntary sector umbrella body Essential Services Access Network (concerned with consumer vulnerability), and the Consumer Forum for Communications (now based at Ofcom).
During 2014 she looked into consumer aspects of the Internet of Things. Since 2001 she has also acted as a domain name Dispute Resolution Expert for Nominet, the .uk domain registry, and since 2008 has been a member of its Expert Review Group.
Since 2012 she has been investigating ways of reducing the problems caused by nuisance calls and texts. LSE's Media Policy Project hosts a Policy Briefing and blogs on this topic, and StepChange Debt Charity a report it commissioned on international activities in this area, with a separate volume of case studies contributed to by LSE students and alumni. This effort continues; anyone interested is invited to contact Claire.
She is also involved in broader ICT policy issues as a Board Member of the Foundation for Information Society Policy, an independent UK thinktank, and through the Steering Committee of the Civil Society Information Society Advisory Council to the OECD, where she contributes to the Working Party on Communication, Infrastructures and Services Policy.
Teaching
Since 2010 Claire has taught (until 2015 with Dr David Souter, and now with Dr Savita Bailur) the master's level course MC405, Policies for ICTs, Society and Development. This half unit option provides practitioner perspectives both on issues within the communications sector and on issues with broader social and economic implications. She enjoys supervising dissertations, whether within or near her areas of expertise.
Some publications
Combatting nuisance calls and texts: a comparative policy study of practices in multiple countries, 2015. For StepChange Debt Charity.
Mobile: a powerful tool for digital inclusion, 2014. With Robert Kenny, through Communication Chambers, for Vodafone.
Costs and Benefits of Superfast Broadband in the UK, 2012. With Robert Milne and Paolo Dini, through LSE Enterprise for Convergys Smart Revenue Solutions.
DCMS Communications Review – the Consumer Perspective, 2012. Consultation response.
Are telecommunication services universally affordable across the EU?, 2010. With David Lewin, through Plum for Vodafone.
The importance of mobile providers as information gatekeepers, 2009. Article commissioned by IKM Emergent.
'Great expectations?: Regulating for users in the United Kingdom and Australia', 2009. With Gerard Goggin, in Telecommunications Journal of Australia, volume 59, number 3: 47.1-47.15.
Chapter 6, 'Affordability case study', 2009. In Future Consumer: emerging consumer issues in telecommunications and convergent communications and media, Australian Communications Consumer Action Network.
The mobile call termination rate debate: implications for consumers, 2008. For Communications Consumer Panel.
'Re-thinking universal service policy for the digital era', 2008. With Claudio Feijoo, guest editor of special issue of info, volume 10 number 5/6, and co-author of Guest Editorial (introduction) and Conclusions.
Parts of ICT regulatory tool kit module 4: universal access and service, 2007-8. With Robert Milne and Intelecon for InfoDev.
Telecoms demand: measures for improving affordability in developing countries. A toolkit for action, 2006. With Robin Mansell et al. World Dialogue on Regulation for Network Economies.
Towards defining and measuring affordability of utilities, 2004. Discussion paper for the Public Utilities Access Forum.
Improving IP connectivity in the least developed countries, 2002. Meeting report for ITU.
The costs of internet access in developing countries - main report, 2001. Report for DFID.
'Affordability of basic telephone service: an income distribution approach', 2000. In Telecommunications Policy, volume 24, number 10, 907-927.
'Sustainable enlargement of public access', 2000. Chapter 4 of Universal Community Service: Access For All To Internet Services At Community Level. Meeting report edited with Sean Creighton for the Council of Europe.
Chapter 5, 'Universal access', 1999. In Trends in telecommunications reform: convergence and regulation, ITU.
'Stages of universal service policy', 1998. In Telecommunications Policy, volume 22, number 9, 775-780.
Meeting universal service obligations in a competitive telecommunications sector, 1994. With Martin Cave and Mark Scanlan, report to CEC/DGIV.
Contact details
Email: c.milne@lse.ac.uk