Telecommunications Reform In The Asia Pacific Region

This book attempts to draw lessons from the experiences of developed as well as developing countries in carrying out telecommunications reform. Contributors come from academia, as well as from stakeholders in telecommunications policy in a dozen countries, mostly in the Asia-Pacific region. Globally, the telecommunications industry is undergoing major changes: technological advances in the form of a vast number of new digitised services, ownership shifts as state-owned carriers in many countries become fully or partly privatized, and a general transition from monopolistic to more competitive market environments. The economic and regulatory experiences derived from these changes are explored and analyzed using the USA, the UK, Australia and Singapore to represent developed and newly industrialized countries, and China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam as examples of developing countries. The conclusions outlined in this timely volume hold important lessons for these as well as for other countries.

Presents a compilation of information from a worldwide pool of experts on their practical experiences in telecommunications sector reform. This study compiles a wealth of information from a worldwide pool of experts on their practical experiences in telecommunications sector reform. It provides an up-to-date account of approaches to the major policy and structural issues and describes developments in Latin America, Asia and the Pacific, and Europe. The study also examines issues related to investment, regulation, and implementation. While each of the eight parts centers on a particular aspect of telecommunications sector reform, the study highlights several recurring themes and looks at a number of country experiences from the perspective of policymakers, regulators, investors, operators, the international development community, and other industry specialists. This volume provides valuable information on how to implement telecommunications reforms, offers insights into the effectiveness of these reforms, and identifies critical areas in which further discussion of related policy and implementation issues in this increasingly important economic sector.

A comprehensive analysis of the policies adopted throughout the Asia Pacific region that have led to an explosive growth of the telecommunications sector. Part one reviews global best practices across a range of key issues while part two examines markets across the region.

Telecommunications reform in India is complete, according to policymakers there. They have done everything correctly in their efforts to transform a state-run monopoly into an independently regulated sector in which private companies compete with government-owned and operated providers. And yet, India lags behind nations whose telecom sectors provided comparable levels of service a decade ago. What went wrong? Dossani and his contributors argue that the classic textbook solutions are insufficient to produce a healthy telecom industry in India, which needs to improve regulatory design, introduce competition in a single phase instead of gradually, implement innovative funding models, and choose appropriate technologies in order to improve access to universal service. Containing valuable lessons for the telecommunications industries in Mexico, Indonesia, the Philippines, and other countries taking formerly state-run industries private, this book constitutes a valuable resource for policymakers, regulators, practitioners, scholars, and overseas investors. Policymakers and regulators will learn that cookie-cutter solutions derived from rich-country experience do not always work in countries that are poor, yet democratic and pro-market. Practitioners will be interested in the sections on universal service, technology convergence, and the implications for reducing costs and improving the quality of both basic telephone services and IT-enabled services. In particular, Indian technology workers in Silicon Valley should find this book indispensable. Investors will gain valuable knowledge about this potentially huge market. Scholars' preconceived ideas may be nudged aside as their knowledge base is enhanced and their research agenda expanded. Whereas some of the book's conclusions support current thinking, such as the need to begin a sequence of reform with a regulatory system in place and the need for dominant-carrier regulation, other conclusions challenge the conventional wisdom. Contributors make a cogent case for reformulating the balance of power between regulators and policymakers, introducing competition at the local level rather than through large franchises, and replacing public subsidies with cross-subsidies of universal service. Provides a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the problems of telecommunications reform in all their complexity.

This book provides searching analysis and a detailed and comprehensive account of telecommunications in the developing economies of Southeast and East Asia.

This study provides an account of approaches to the major policy and structural issues in the telecommunications sector, and describes developments in Latin America, Asia and the Pacific, and Europe. It also examines issues related to investment, regulation and implementation.

Recently, real and artificial barriers to international transactions have fallen sharply, causing a rise in the overall volume of international trade. East Asia has been particularly affected by the economic stresses and gains derived from deregulation. Deregulation and Interdependence in the Asia-Pacific Region explores the broadly similar experiences of certain economies in the region—China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea—in dealing with the potentially volatile process of deregulation, and examines the East Asian response to a rapidly transforming economic environment.