Friend of LIRNEasia, Sherille Ismail (Senior Counsel, Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis of the FCC) has written an excellent review of theWorld Bank’s “Information and Communications for Development 2006: Global Trends and Policies,” concluding with: “The telecommunications sector has performed in a spectacular fashion over the past two decades, bringing modern technologies at affordable prices to consumers throughout the world. The future holds the promise of even greater gains, as ICT ripples through economies, increasing productivity and generating efficiencies. To achieve the desired results, governments, scholars, investors, and the international community must successfully negotiate many challenges. Not the least of these is the particular challenge of dealing with issues in developing countries, where “there are often fundamental differences between what is proposed by technological visionaries, many of whom have never seen a village, and what is actually needed by end users, many of whom have never used a telephone.” This book is filled with reliable data, thoughtful analysis, and time-tested policy prescriptions.