Telecom liberalization and competition in developing countries

Degovernmentalization, corporatization, privatization and demonopolization of telecom infrastructure and services initiated in 1984 in the developed countries USA, Japan and the UK and followed by their likes in Europe, is a reform sweeping across the developing countries too. But the reasons for and the results sought are different. The issues involved and the process of reform in developing countries with a strong tradition of state capitalism and state monopolies in the name of socialism, are different. The lofty objectives of reform can often be unrealized or totally distorted by the incumbent being entrusted with the responsibility for effecting the reforms without separation of regulatory functions from ministry-policy-operational functions of the incumbent. The paper focuses on these issues. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd, All rights reserved.