International accounting rates. A perspective

Abstract

Abstract Since 1987 the USA has waged a campaign to lower the absolute level of international accounting rates to lessen its roughly $4 billion international telecommunications settlement deficit. However, the commercial potency of the accounting rate regime lies in the cost-based division of the accounting rate, not the overall level which has been the focus of the US policy effort. True cost-based accounting rates may not necessarily improve the US position, especially with the developing world. The developing world nevertheless runs the risk of being unfairly caught in the cost-based crossfire. A decade after The Missing Link the international accounting rate regime still provides a bilateral mechanism to deliver infrastructure support to the developing world; such support accords with the aspirations of both the ITU and G7 to achieve universal access to the benefits of the Information Society.