The last time LIRNEasia was associated with the ITU’s annual Global Symposium on Regulation was the year they picked the lighthouse logo, 2001. It is good to see our work being used, interestingly by an author from the private sector.
In the second half of 2008, LIRNEasia, a non profit research organization, conducted a survey in eight emerging Asian economies: Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, the Maldives, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka
and Thailand. The study scored stakeholder perceptions regarding investing and operating in the markets in question based on the regulatory framework for mobile, fixed and broadband networks. The regulatory framework was defined by seven major dimensions namely: market entry, access to scarce resources, interconnection, tariff regulation, anti-competitive practices, universal service obligations and quality of service. Pakistan scored the highest in four of the seven dimensions with all environments being viewed unfavourably with respect to dealing with anti-competitive practices. These high scores with respect to the regulatory environment translated into significant investment in Pakistan’s ICT sector, where, according to LIRNEasia, the country attracted over $1.4B US in the 20072008 time period. This represented approximately 27 % of the total country’s FDI. Indeed, during the survey period, Orascom increased its ownership stake in Mobilink (a mobile operator) to 100%; ChinaMobile acquired 100% of Paktel (the incumbent); OmanTel bought a 60% stake in World Call, a Pakistani telecom and multimedia services company; and SingTel acquired 30% of Warid, a mobile operator.
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