A major challenge facing regulators in industrial and developing countries alike is the need to strike the right balance between ensuring certainty for market players and preserving flexibility of the regulatory process to accommodate the rapidly changing market, technological, and policy...

The radio spectrum is a major component of the telecommunications infrastructure that underpins the information society. Spectrum management, however, has not kept up with major changes in technology, business practice, and economic policy during the past two decades. Traditional spectrum...

Among the countries fully liberalizing their telecommunicationssector, some have chosen to rely mainly on sector-specific rules,often applied by sector-specific institutions, while others havedepended on economywide antitrust rules and institutions to controlmarket power. This Note describes the...

Full liberalization of telecommunications markets provides scope for relying largely on general antitrust rules and institutions for economic regulation. But at least for a time after liberalization, sector-specific rules and institutions are likely to be needed in some areas, including...

Countries with fully liberalized telecommunications markets have adopted different mixes of antitrust and sector-specific regulatory instruments. Does the balance between the two approaches matter for competitiveness? Drawing on the experiences of Australia, Chile, New Zealand, the United...

Bringing management of the radio spectrum closer to markets is long overdue. The radio spectrum is a major component of the infrastructure that underpins the information society. Spectrum management, however, has not kept up with major changes in technology, business practice, and economic...

Market-oriented reforms of infrastructure in developing countries tend to focus primarily on commercially viable services in urban areas. Nevertheless, an increasing number of countries are beginning to experiment with extending the market paradigm to infrastructure services in rural areas that...

The study documents, and reviews the Chilean experience in rural telecommunications, by focusing on the principles, practical organization, basic design, and outstanding issues for extension of a more advanced form of approach to communication, and access to information. It examines in depth the...

For at least a decade, governments and non-profit organizations, often supported by bilateral aid, have experimented with tele-centers as means to extend access to computers, the Internet, and other information, and communication services to rural, and low-income urban areas of developing...

Competitive markets go a long way toward making telecommunications services available throughout the population. But governments often seek to extend access to services beyond what the private sector will provide on its own. To widen access, governments must remove obstacles that prevent the...