State control and privatization of telecommunications: a review of international experience
- Paper number
IAC-06-E6.5.07
- Author
Mr. Atip Latipulhayat, Monash University, Australia
- Year
2006
- Abstract
Privatization of telecommunications has been a central part of the massive privatization phenomenon that has swept the globe since the 1980s. The sector is considered a classic example of a natural monopoly, a status which justifies its monopoly by states. Privatisation of the sector, therefore, is not only economically attractive, but also sensitive from the perspective of public policy, as it involves a change in the nature of state control over the sector. Under monopoly regimes, states generally have complete control over the sector by means of state ownership and protected monopoly regulation. Privatisation, which involves substantial change to the ownership structure and invites private participation, will have a significant impact on state involvement in the sector. The selling of British Telecom in 1984 is considered a “trailblazer” in telecommunications privatisation, facilitating the export of the concept to the world. The wave of telecommunications privatisation has since become a global phenomenon by the inclusion of the sector, at the insistence of developed countries, into the framework of the WTO. This paper reviews the international privatisation telecommunications experience, covering, among other things, the rationale, method, and processes of privatising the sector. The main aim is to investigate the forms of state control remaining in place after privatisation of the sector.
- Abstract document