Rohan Samarajiva

The role of competition in institutional reform of telecommunications: lessons from Sri Lanka

Consolidation of the recent wave of institutional reforms in telecommunications requires assessment of the position of competition in relation to organizational reform of incumbents and the establishment of regulation. Drawing lessons from the experience of Sri Lanka, a country which has achieved good results from comprehensive reforms over a nine-year period, the article concludes that competition plays the most important role. In addition to the direct benefits of increased investment, lower prices and higher levels of connectivity, quality of service and innovation, competition reinforces organizational reform of the incumbent, contributes to the consolidation and legitimation of regulation and prevents the rollback of advances in organizational reform of the incumbent and in regulation. The article also draws general conclusions from the policy choices made by Sri Lanka regarding the strategy of introducing competition; the sequence of privatization and competition; the balance between telecommunications sector objectives and yield maximization from privatization/ownership; universal access/service; managing competition within technology-defined subsectors; and ongoing regulation for competition.

Competing Frameworks for Research on Information-Communication Technologies and Society: Toward a Synthesis

This chapter seeks to identify the main elements of an analytic framework for research on the role of information-communication technologies in the restructuring of the inherited social formation. Dissatisfaction with existing frameworks and theories motivates this endeavor. Four schools of thought that can contribute to the task are distilled from the literature: postindustrialists, industrialists, long-wave theorists, and power theorists. To varying degrees, these perspectives shed light on the dynamics of changes associated with information-communication technologies. Separating the wheat from the chaff in these perspectives and integrating their contributions with the insights of Giddens, Mouzelis, and others, we argue that an adequate understanding of the dynamics and implications of social change associated with information-communication technologies is based on (a) grasping the historical interplay between the irreducible “institutional clusters” of capitalism, industrialism, and the state; and (b)...

Regulation of on‐line content in the new trade environment: NAFTA and communication policy

Trade agreements are constitution‐like in that they constrain action at “lower” or national and sub‐national levels (Jackson, 1988). This article examines some constitution‐like effects of telecommunication provisions in the North American Free Trade Agreement on U.S. policies regulating pornography. Recent U.S. actions to regulate on‐line pornography, through amendments to the Communications Act and the Comstock Act, and relevant cases, including the recent Amateur Action decision, are discussed. The relevant provisions in the NAFTA are outlined. The paper concludes that U.S. efforts to regulate content of on‐line services which appear to fall within the category of enhanced/value‐added telecommunication services would not be strictly “NAFTA‐legal” under the telecommunication chapter, but could be made so utilizing the privacy, consumer protection or cultural‐industries exceptions which were not intended for this purpose nor were advocated by the U.S. The broader implications for the future of the nation...

Regulation of 976 services and dial-a-porn : Implications for the intelligent network

This article analyses the policy conflicts arising in the first decade of 976 or audiotex services in the USA and examines their implications for the emergent intelligent network that is being assembled piece by piece, with respect to both hardware and institutional structure. The 976 services, whereby information services are delivered over the telecommunications network, are an important component of this structure. The policy conflicts associated with 976 services have centred on dial-a-porn services but the resultant policies have a bearing on all information services delivered over the network. The article documents the policy debates and their outcomes and identifies serious concerns regarding censorial powers assigned to common carriers, competition, privacy and cost allocation.

Telecommunication, rural development and the Maitland report

Since the 1970s, considerable resources have been spent on persuading Third World policymakers and planners that telecommunication is crucial for development. Agencies such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the World Bank and the Development Centre of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have funded myriad research projects to generate empirical data and stockpile illustrations supporting the assertion that telecommunication can significantly contribute to economic growth, social service delivery, and a

Institutional reform in Sri Lanka's telecommunication system: Regulation, corporatization, and competition∗

Sri Lankas telecommunication system has undergone major institutional reform in the past 12 years. This article describes the three phases of the reform process—a prologue stretching from 1980 to around 1984, an abortive effort to privatize the Department of Telecommunications in 1984–89, and a third, less radical but successful, stage of institutional reform from 1991 onward. The reforms are analysed in terms of changes in forms of regulation, corporate organization, and industrial organization. The dramatic change from a system with one all‐encompassing, unregulated, government‐owned telecommunication monopoly to one with three cellular carriers, two data carriers, and five paging services, and experimenting with Build‐Operate‐Transfer schemes for basic telephony is documented. The interplay of domestic and external factors in these changes are examined, as are the interplay of factors internal and external to the telecommunication system. The broad implications of the reforms, including impact on grou...

Sri Lanka in 1993: Eruptions and Flow

The year 1993 was marked by dramatic developments in Sri Lanka in the political and military spheres. President Ranasinghe Premadasa was blown to bits by a suicide bomber in the midst of a May Day parade, just eight days after one of his principal opponents, Lalith Athulathmudali, was shot dead while addressing an election meeting. For the second time in contemporary Sri Lankan history, an opposition political group established an alternate power base, forming a provincial-level government in the crucial Western Province. The Supreme Court, gaining confidence in its political powers, ruled against the ruling United National Party (UNP) in the appointment of two other provincial council chief ministers. The Sri Lankan armed forces experienced their most devastating defeat at the hands of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at Pooneryn, and underwent a change in leadership. The LTTE went through its own crises, losing a key leader and a ship loaded with arms to the Indian Navy. This exacerbated fissures within the organization, culminating in the arrest and possible execution of the second in command, Mahendraraja (Mahattya). But in the perhaps more fundamental levels of the economy and the civil conflict, things appeared to remain more or less the same as in past years, and the governing system exhibited considerable stability.

Implications of technological change for scientific communication in the third world a case study 1

Information and communication technologies have transformed the nature of scientific communication. This paper is a contribution to the assessment of the impact of technological change on scientific communication. It examines changed patterns of access to the basic scientific journal literature by Third World scientists, based on a study of the scientific and technological. information system of Sri Lanka, a small Third World country, and the technologies of print, microform, online, and CD‐ROM. It is shown that conventional print journals are rapidly being priced out of the reach of Third World users. The technological options are evaluated in relation to the institutional context of a small Third World country and responses to the rapidly changing technological and economic environment are proposed.