The role of the auditor general ranges from accounting to thorough-going analysis of the performance of organisations. In many countries the Auditor-General has reviewed the performance of the telecommunications regulatory authority which provides parliaments and the public with an insight that...

The phenomenal growth of the customer base for mobile phones has been heavily promoted by the industry. However, analysis of the numbers indicates that there are massive levels of systemic overcounting, caused by customers with multiple subscriptions, perhaps for a range of operators, perhaps...

The internal market was to have been completed in 1992, yet for telecommunications progress stalled some years ago. In 2003 a legal framework came into force that contained complex mechanisms for the harmonisation of regulatory decision making, with regulators bound to work to complete the...

Reducing corruption in the telecommunications sector requires licensing reforms. Liberalisation ignored known risks of corruption in both developing countries and in the telecommunications sector, allowing bribery, cronyism and nepotism to enter and to flourish. A discussion of past and present...

The term world class is used in some broadband plans, as a target. Comparisons with other countries are beneficial, though not straightforward, in measuring progress. Claims about improvements to national competitiveness and economic growth are difficult to determine, given that economic rivals...

The Scottish National Party (SNP) government in Scotland has published an outline of how it wishes economic and competition regulation to operate in the event that it is successful in persuading the residents of Scotland to vote in September 2014 for independence in March 2016. It envisages a...

If the plebiscite in Scotland, due in autumn 2014, results in its independence from the United Kingdom, it is expected to become a member state of the European Union (EU). One consequence of this is that Scotland would be required, by the acquis communitaire, to create a considerable number of...

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...

The United Kingdom has simultaneously created a highly sophisticated regulatory state and devolved significant powers to legislatures in three of its four nations, it has also transferred significant powers to institutions of the European Union. This paper briefly examines how the present...

For three decades the government of South Africa has sought to make telecommunications universally available and affordable. In its last days, the National Party government persuaded with the African National Congress (ANC) there should be licences for two competing international groups to build...