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Over the past ten years, private-sector-led growth has revolutionized access to telecommunications. Every region of the developing world benefitted in terms of investment and rollout. This revolution would have been impossible without government reform and oversight. Advanced information and communication infrastructure (ICI) are increasingly important to doing business in a globalizing world. Governments, enterprises, civil society, workers, and poor populations in the developing countries need more affordable access. This report proposes strategies that governments can carry out to attract private investment and ensure the continued evolution and spread of information and communication infrastructure. These strategies encompass more than sector policy alone, for investment decisions are based on a wide range of factors including, for example, the roles played by financial sector development and the broader investment environment. The strategies also include potential public sector investments that can catalyze ICI rollout in subsectors where the private sector is not prepared to intervene on its own.

PurposeMany governments wishing to provide telecommunication services to those who are unconnected have chosen the Universal Service Fund (USF) as the principal policy instrument. However, there is evidence that monies directly or indirectly collected from users of telecommunication services are lying unspent in these funds. The purpose of this paper is to propose metrics for measuring the disbursement efficacy of funds across time and across countries as an essential element of improving the performance of the universal service funds.Design/methodology/approachThis paper proposes two metrics, the total disbursement rate (TDR) and the year-on-year disbursement rate (YDR), which can be used to assess the disbursement efficacy of universal service programs. It illustrates the value of the metrics by applying them to the USFs of India, Malaysia and Pakistan.FindingsA move to push out funds has been observed in India in recent years. Pakistan had not reached the same momentum up to mid-2014. An improvement in Malaysia’s disbursement efficacy was observed until 2013, with nearly all of the funds collected in the previous year being disbursed. A significant proportion of the funds collected are lying unspent in the three USFs, nevertheless.Originality/valueThe proposed metrics are robust, objective and parsimonious indicators that allow comparison over time and across countries. They will enable productive, evidence-based conversations that will hold fund administrators accountable and will inform the design and implementation of more effective policy mechanisms.

Since 1998, the telecommunications industry in China has gained the great growth. Hence, the telecommunications charges have been continuously lowered, telecommunications technical services have been persistently innovated, and the telecommunications users and business revenues increased constantly, having exerted great effect on the society. But there are also new questions ahead: the TFP has gradually slowed down since 2011, and the unbalanced development is shown in the eastern, middle and western regions, but some areas are undergoing extensive growth. The paper researches exogenous factors affecting China telecommunications industry TFP growth. The result pointed out that the level of economic development and degree of industrialization had contributed, to some extent, to improving the TFP growth rates of the telecommunications industry; Population scale and population density played a positive role in promoting the TFP growth rates of the telecommunications industry; Technological innovation had no effect on the telecommunications industry TFP, but there appeared the inhibition efficiency trend.

Desde hace una década, se ha observado un despliegue estatal de redes de próxima generación en el mercado de las telecomunicaciones. A primera vista, este giro en el papel del Estado parece incongruente en relación con la exitosa tendencia de mayor inversión y crecimiento liderada por el mercado que ha experimentado la industria durante los últimos veinte años. Una mirada más cercana revela una combinación de factores que llevaron a los gobiernos de todo el mundo a asumir un rol más activo en este mercado. Este artículo reflexiona sobre la participación del Estado en el auge de redes de infraestructura en el caso de México y de otros países de América Latina. Asimismo, se analizan comparativamente los cambios en el papel del Estado en las dos reformas de telecomunicaciones en México: 1990 y 2013. Se concluye que el cambio de rol del Estado no representa un retorno a un papel de proveedor de servicios que prevaleció durante la era de la posguerra, ya que la nueva ola coexiste con una promoción de la competencia de las empresas privadas en el mercado. El análisis destaca que ninguna de las reformas ha logrado resolver las grandes desigualdades en el acceso a las nuevas tecnologías de la información (tic) en México.

This joint OED (Operations Evaluation Department) / OEG (Operations Evaluation Group) study follows up OED ' s 1993 review of the Bank ' s experience in telecommunications. It assesses how World Bank Group assistance from 1993 onward has influenced the development of information infrastructure in developing countries. It finds that recommendations of the 1993 review have generally been heeded with a) the adoption of a new private-sector-led agenda; b) the incorporation of the new agenda in most recent Bank lending and non-lending interventions; and c) the increasing share of IFC in total Bank Group funding commitments for telecommunications. The study points out that, at a time when the information revolution presents developing countries with far-reaching opportunities and risks, the Bank Group ' s ability to play a global policy leadership role has been hampered by its benign neglect of the sector at both the strategic and country management levels, as well as a fragmented internal organization. As a result, the number of countries where it has had a real impact is limited. The study recommends that the Bank Group a) restate its strategy in the broader information infrastructure, with a particular focus on optimizing the use of its instruments and expert skills; and b) gaps in the existing monitoring and evaluation systems be filled, to provide the necessary framework to assess the future effectiveness of the revised strategy.

Equity and growth are central concerns for development in Mexico. Specific inequalities in income, power, wealth, and status create and sustain economic institutions and policies that perpetuate these inequalities and promote poor economic performace. 'No Growth without Equity? Inequality, Interests, and Competition in Mexico' presents a novel analysis showing why more equality is necessary to increase economic growth. The authors analyze the causes of persistent inequality and weak growth in Mexico, despite major changes associated with NAFTA and democratization, and draw implications for policy design. The book involves an innovative synthesis of work on overall links between equity and growth, and carefully grounded analysis in specific areas. The issues are of intense interest to policy debate in Mexico and to the development community in Latin America and elsewhere.

This title presents the case that opening international voice communication to competition is key to reform the telecommunications sector, is sustainable in developing countries, and results in major gains to consumers, businesses, and to the economy. Over the last 20 years full competition became a dominant attribute in virtually all high-income countries and in selected developing countries. Three forces were behind competition: globalization, technological change, and the emergence of international telecommunications as an enabler for integration and trade. Now over 80 percent of global voice traffic originates in fully competitive markets. Resistance to competition remains strong in several developing countries, even though countries such as Chile and El Salvador have demonstrated spectacular success in introducing and sustaining competition. A spectrum of reasons for resistance to competition exist. Some reasons are telecommunications-specific (lack of technical, regulatory and business skills, fear of bankrupting the incumbent operator). Other reasons are systemic, such as: (a) concern over fiscal losses, (b) lack of political influence by pressure groups favoring competition, (c) corruption, and (d) restrictions over information flows. Competition in international communications is also a matter of economic freedom. Competition in International Voice Communications makes a case for opening developing country markets quickly rather than gradually as well as identifies regulatory matters that need to be tackled in opening the markets to competition: regulatory reform, better licensing, interconnection and universal service regime.

Information and communication technologies provide the basis for increasing and applying knowledge in the private and public sectors. Countries with strong information infrastructures that employ innovative information technology applications, have many advantages for sustained economic growth and social development. This book is, primarily, a business strategy which explains the World Bank ' s role in the development of information infrastructure. It details a plan for expanding the institutional development capacity within the World Bank and in the regions in order to successfully implement this strategy. This book also discusses issues relating to information technology quality assurance and improving the World Bank ' s capacity to ensure such quality.

In recent years, the European telecommunications market has experienced major changes with wave of liberalization and rapid technological advancements. The nature of these changes and their implications for the autonomy of the national state vis-à-vis the Commission are often the subject of heated debate. Unlike the claims of neorealism and neofunctionalism, a close examination of the liberalization process in Britain and Germany telecommunications sector shows the appropriateness of new institutional analysis in which domestic as well as EU level conditions for the liberalization process are simultaneously explored. Although the wave of globalization, liberalization, and technological development set the stage for both countries to initiate telecoms reform, their different institutional structures produced mixed result initially. However, the Commission, armed with technical information and institutional support, exhibited effective mediation skills in making member states follow its legislative steps and pushing through its regulatory measures. As a result, despite some differences in timing and sequencing in their reform processes, Britain and Germany shared key institutional features of convergence - privatization of incumbent of PTTs, full liberalization of the sector, the creation of semi independent regulatory authorities and the spread of new norms of fair and effective competition.

Purpose - This paper seeks to make an assessment of the progress towards a fully fledged internal market for e-communications in the European Union. The assessment is placed in the context of a quarter century of telecommunications reform in Europe. Design/methodology/approach - A combination of qualitative and quantitative assessments is applied with a focus on fixed and mobile communications. The qualitative assessment includes interviews and a questionnaire. The quantitative assessment is based on econometric analysis of panel data. Findings - Removing the remaining barriers in the internal market may in the long run provide benefits of [euro]27-55bn or the equivalent of 0.2-0.4 percent of GDP at the European level. Major barriers identified are related to the degree of openness of national markets and the ability of telecom firms to exploit EU-level economies of scale. Research limitations/implications - In the econometric benefit analysis no secondary effects are included. Further research is recommended to assess the effects, costs and benefits of enforcing a higher degree of harmonisation. Practical implications - The paper provides insights and recommendations that are valuable for policy makers. Originality/value - The paper places the research executed in support of a study for the European Commission in the historical context of the telecommunications reform.