Bangladesh is currently conducting a public consultation on proposed Significant Market Power regulation. The recommendations made by an ITU consultant proposes Significant Market Power (SMP) regulation. This is not something many regulators in our region have focused on, at least not recently (though very light flavors of SMP determinations can be found in some countries such as Pakistan). So we sought the help of our sister research network RIA. Using the recent experience of South Africa in using SMP in regulation (and contrasting with Namibia and Botswana which do not use SMP), Allison Gillwald of RIA gave us useful input on the pros and cons of the approach. Based on that, a submission was made by LIRNEasia to the regulator in Bangladesh (BTRC).
Both RIA and LIRNEasia engage in policy-relevant research. Both have Rapid Response programs which enable them to intervene when we see windows of opportunity in our respective regions. But this is the first time we have been able to so directly using learnings from one region in responding to a public consultation in another. We hope to do more on these lines in the future.
1 Comment
Abu Saeed Khan
Unlike the past, BTRC may consider to publish all responses of this consultation in its website to make the initiative truly effective.