A research study submitted in paitial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration, School of Management

Research studies project report (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2005

Telecommunications reforms have been carried out throughout the world at a hectic pace. Some countries have seen their industries flourish while elsewhere obtaining the basic telephone service has remained a very difficult task. Regulation holds a key to how the markets will perform in this industry, and how the regulator should be structured and empowered remains to be debated. International organizations such as the World Bank and WTO have been advocating deregulation of the telecommunications industry and need to have an independent regulator in operation. However it has not been empirically proven that an independent regulator does lead to the success of the industry. This paper attempts to identify the importance of the independence of the telecommunications regulator to the success of the industry. The paper also looks at what criteria determine the independence of the regulator and how each of those affects the independence. I have not been able to establish a direct correlation between the independence of the regulator and the performance of the industry through this study. Although the independence alone is not indicative of the performance of the industry, the importance of the independence cannot be undermined as seen both from the literature and in the opinion of industry experts. The most important output of the research is the comprehensive list of criteria considered important for the independence of the regulator. The relative importance of these criteria is also measured. These criteria are based upon the expert opinions in the industry and can be used as a solid starting point for similar research in the future.