Use of the Internet by entrepreneurs has transformed gambling. Many have notionally located their businesses away from jurisdictions with heavy taxes and intrusive regulation, to offshore centres with very low taxes and regulations intended to prove their statistics and the avoidance of money...

Telecommunications in South Africa is one example of the regulatory state, dating from the early 1990s and comprising the usual elements of commercial operators, ministers issuing periodic policies, a regulator, a competition authority, systems of appeal, and parliamentary oversight. Less...

In December 2011, prosecutors in the United States of America announced the settlement of cases against Magyar Telekom and Deutsche Telekom in respect of bribery of officials in two countries in the Balkans. In the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) they had obtained a delay in a...

Corruption has been identified as a significant issue in telecommunications, seen in bribery and nepotism over many years, raising questions as to whether there are comparable problems with the Internet. Complex systems of Internet governance have excluded the issue, failing to put in place any...

In January 2012 the Westminster government offered to devolve to the Scottish Parliament the powers necessary to conduct a referendum on the independence of Scotland, with the possibility of repealing the Act of Union of 1707. This could return Great Britain to a Union of the Crowns, with...

Greece had, largely as a result of clientele policies, delayed its privatization of the state-owned telecommunications operator, the Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (OTE) and the liberalization of markets. For over a decade up to 2004 Siemens paid bribes to managers of OTE, to senior...

In March 2011 three national network operations were exchanged between América Móvil and Digicel, withdrawing from competing in each other’s markets: El Salvador, Honduras and Jamaica. The effect was significantly to reduce the levels of competition at the time and in the future, by...

National roaming is a measure that can be agreed commercially between operators to extend coverage or can be imposed or facilitated by governments as a means to increase competition amongst networks. It has been used with varying degrees of success in a range of countries, notably in the...

Survey data for the adoption of broadband and the Internet point to significant regional variations. While there continues to be growth at the UK level, the adoption of broadband in Scotland appears to have stalled, in contrast to the three other nations. Internet adoption shows a similar...

Governments in a number of countries are concerned about the high surcharges for international mobile roaming and instances of “bill shock”. Russia has used competition law to force down excessive prices. Singapore has introduced consumer protection against bill shock. The USA has consulted...