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...

Nepal lags comparable countries in Asia, in part due to civil unrest and constant changes in government. There has been little resolve to implement policies and few incentives to do so. An operator partly belonging to a son-in-law of the King was favoured, until the monarchy ceased. Spectrum for...

In cases of “bill shock” customers receive invoices from hundred to tens of thousands of Euro for use of mobile broadband when abroad. The EU Roaming Regulation requires operators to protect customers by providing prices and managing their monthly spending limit. In the USA, the FCC has an...

Climate change is recognized by both the African and European Unions as a significant challenge in terms of mitigation and adaptation, requiring technological advances and transfers. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are believed to contribute around 2.5% of global emissions of...

The European Commission reported on the implementation of the current Roaming II Regulation and proposed the Roaming III Regulation to run until 2022. This combined wholesale and retail price caps for voice, SMS and data (the retail data price cap being new). It also proposed the introduction of...

The European Commission has proposed its third Roaming Regulation to cap the prices charged for international mobile roaming, to ensure transparency of prices and to eliminate the risk of "bill shock". The present proposal would come into force in 2012 and extends until 2022. It adds a price cap...

Report on a conference reviewing the state of play of the European Union's second Roaming Regulation and consideration of options for a legislative successor. A number of possible structural remedies were rejected in favour of the existing model of retail and wholesale price caps, with a...

Corruption has long been endemic in Indian telecommunications. Individuals and small contractors must pay bribes or "facilitation fees" to obtain a fixed line or to release a payment for a contract or, even, a pension. Investigation of complaints about the government and state-owned operators...