Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of abbreviations and acronyms
- List of contributors
- 1 An overview: options for global trade reform – a view from the Asia-Pacific
- 2 Agriculture and the Doha Development Agenda
- 3 Liberalizing trade in manufactures
- 4 Returning textiles and clothing to GATT disciplines
- 5 Approaches to further liberalization of trade in services
- 6 Liberalization of air transport services
- 7 Liberalization of maritime transport services
- 8 International trade in telecoms services
- 9 East Asia and options for negotiations on investment
- 10 Competition policy, developing countries, and the World Trade Organization
- 11 The long and winding road to the Government Procurement Agreement: Korea's accession experience
- 12 Trade facilitation in the World Trade Organization: Singapore to Doha and beyond
- 13 Trade, the environment, and labor: text, institutions, and context
- Index
- References
8 - International trade in telecoms services
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of abbreviations and acronyms
- List of contributors
- 1 An overview: options for global trade reform – a view from the Asia-Pacific
- 2 Agriculture and the Doha Development Agenda
- 3 Liberalizing trade in manufactures
- 4 Returning textiles and clothing to GATT disciplines
- 5 Approaches to further liberalization of trade in services
- 6 Liberalization of air transport services
- 7 Liberalization of maritime transport services
- 8 International trade in telecoms services
- 9 East Asia and options for negotiations on investment
- 10 Competition policy, developing countries, and the World Trade Organization
- 11 The long and winding road to the Government Procurement Agreement: Korea's accession experience
- 12 Trade facilitation in the World Trade Organization: Singapore to Doha and beyond
- 13 Trade, the environment, and labor: text, institutions, and context
- Index
- References
Summary
Until the mid-1980s, telecoms services and international trade and investment were viewed as separate realms of policy activity. Domestic policy and regulations were developed by governments within the parameters of national telecoms carriers to provide a technologically narrow range of services under monopolistic arrangements. International concerns were confined to matters of interconnection, standards, and rate setting, and were handled cooperatively through the international consultative committees of the International Telecommunication Union or through bilateral agreements among providers of international services Ergas and Paterson (1991).
However, as telecoms services have become increasingly internationalized, a host of regulatory impediments to international trade and investment in such services have come to light. Many of the barriers affecting telecoms services are similar to those affecting other services, in that laws and regulations impede the ability of producers and consumers to interact across borders through cross-border trade or foreign direct investment Hill (1977; Sampson and Snape 1985). Other barriers, specific to telecoms, involve the effective regulation of the dominant carrier Noll (1994; Scanlan 1994; Hoekman, Low, and Mavroidis, 1996).
The process of applying international trade disciplines to these impediments has commenced with the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). This process has been facilitated by domestic deregulation in many telecoms markets around the world. In East Asia the deregulation and liberalization of the telecoms industry has been extensive in recent years, with most economies now accepting that increased competition is a prerequisite for the industry's development and growth.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Options for Global Trade ReformA View from the Asia-Pacific, pp. 173 - 193Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003