Competition policy and economic regulation are based on the premise that the “public interest” or “social good’ is best served when markets work efficiently. This generally occurs in a competitive environment.
Competition is the most efficient and equitable mechanism available for organizing, operating, and disciplining economic markets. Competitive markets distribute resources efficiently and fairly without any need for a single centralized controlling authority. Competition maximizes benefits to society at large by:
- Ensuring that resources, products, and services are allocated to the person or persons who value them the most (allocative efficiency)
- Forcing market participants to use scarce resources as productively as possible (productive efficiency)
- Encouraging market participants to innovate, and to invest in new technologies at the best time (dynamic efficiency).
There are numerous examples internationally of the benefits of competition in the ICT sector. For example, in Jamaica, liberalization of the mobile phone sector led to large increases in the accessibility of telecommunications to consumers, and a jump in total teledensity. Similar results have been seen in other countries, including Morocco.
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