Lessons from North American telecommunications for developing nations in the new information era: Case studies of India, South Africa and Chile

With the globalization of economies and convergence of technologies, a major challenge facing developing nations like India, South Africa and Chile, is the need to upgrade their telecommunications systems. This requires them to move from a closed centralized policy model to a pro-competitive decentralized regime as proposed in the WTO's Basic Telecommunications Service Agreement and its Reference Paper. These international agreements do not expressly require developing nations to follow North American telecommunication developments. However, the role of North America in framing the Agreement and its Reference Paper was profound.; This thesis examines North American telecommunications developments and in particular the theories of Gerald Brock, Milton Mueller and Alan Stone. It seeks to show that the developing nations chosen for study, in upgrading their telecommunications systems by reforming their legal and regulatory regimes and complying with new international obligations, while seeking to achieve their diverse domestic goals, may learn much from theoretical insights drawn from North American experience. Thus the historical experience of North America may be used to assist in meeting the contemporary needs of developing nations in their reforms.