Bribery and Corruption in Telecommunications - New Approaches to Licencing

Reducing corruption in the telecommunications sector requires licensing reforms. Liberalisation ignored known risks of corruption in both developing countries and in the telecommunications sector, allowing bribery, cronyism and nepotism to enter and to flourish. A discussion of past and present corruption is essential, with politicians and CEOs setting a new, clean “tone at the top”. Public registers of the beneficial owners of operators are vital, without shell companies or nominees, including minority partners. Failure to disclose this information must carry penalties. Many countries require support to combine anticorruption effort with telecommunications sector policies and regulation. All countries must enforce obligations under the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) to criminalise domestic and foreign corruption, creating the capacity to investigate and prosecute