Officials in developing countries with legal and political systems of continental European origin often argue that the model of independent regulatory agencies for utilities is appropriate only for Anglo-Saxon countries. Yet countries in continental Europe have also adopted this model. Comparing...

Infrastructure contributed 1 percentage point to Senegal's improved per capita growth performance between 2000 and 2005, placing it in the middle of the distribution among West African countries. Raising the country's infrastructure endowment to that of the region's middle-income countries...

Honduras has achieved a reasonable level of access to water supply and sanitation, but gaps in coverage remain, especially in rural and peri-urban areas, and service quality for those with access is often poor. To help the Government of Honduras achieve universal coverage and improve service...

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...

Many governments, particularly in developing and emerging market economies, still doubt the benefits of competition in wireless services. But international experience shows that competition in any of the digital technologies brings substantial benefits to users and creates powerful incentives...

Under concession arrangements, the state delegates to the private sector the right to provide a service, yet retains some control over the sector by incorporating in a concession contract or license the terms and conditions that will govern the infrastructure project or company. This approach is...