Telecom Regulatory Environment

During 2006 and 2007 DIRSI and LIRNE.NET released Telecom Regulatory Environment (TRE) assessment studies in six countries in the Latin America and Caribbean region (Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru and Uruguay).

The Telecom Regulatory Environment (TRE) Assessment methodology was developed by LIRNEasia, a global network LIRNE.NET, as an innovative approach to gaining insight on regulatory performance.

Simply put, a necessary condition for good telecom sector performance is investment, and investment decisions are influenced by perceptions of investment risk. Indeed, investment is highly correlated with sector regulation. However, regulatory performance is notoriously problematic to assess – especially in a quantifiable manner. TRE assessments seek to measure the perception of risk, which is the primary driver of investment decisions.

Using interviews and a questionnaire administered to a statistically significant cross-section of industry stakeholders and experts, the TRE assessment traverses six dimensions of regulatory risk (market entry, access to scarce resources, interconnection, tariff regulation, regulation of anti-competitive practice and universal service) for both the fixed and mobile sectors.

The TRE methodology focuses on the environment as a whole, rather than only on the regulatory agency. This broadens the scope and usefulness of the study to different actors.

Report's Overview