Regulation and deregulation of telecommunications: the economic and political realities. Part III: Japan, the Pacific Basin and less developed countries

Abstract

The liberalization of telecommunications in the western hemisphere has not gone unnoticed in the countries of Asia and the Pacific Basin. Japan has already taken the plunge and indeed she passed legislation to end the monopoly of the Nippon Telephone and Telegraph Public Corporation (NTT) in 1984. She has realised that a monopoly can impede develop ments in Information Technology and that deregulation is essential to stimulate competition and consequently lead to the availablity of a wide range of economical value added network services. Liberalization can also be regarded as a tactical move to achieve a firm foothold in the lucrative international tele communications market. There are at least three Japanese companies competing aggressively in the international arena and one of them has already opened an international telecom munications consultancy office in London with plans for fur ther expansion in the United States. The rates of growth of the telecommunications industry in other countries of the Pacific Basin including Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong have also been phenomenal. It is no exaggeration to say that telecommunications is contributing significantly to the continuous shift of economic power from the Atlantic to the Pacific region. However, the area also includes several countries which are so technologically back ward that deregulation is virtually a non-issue. Nevertheless they face several economic, political and information disad vantages which arise from the lack of a well-defined, modern telecommunications infrastructure. They have already recog nized the value of telecommunications in their overall and individual development, and are campaigning vigorously in international forums such as NWICO and WARC for a new world information order based on telecommunications.