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.
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