Many different approaches have been applied to authorizing ICT services around the world. However, there is an increasing convergence of approaches as the experience of liberalizing the ICT sector is shared among regulators and policy-makers. This experience is also producing generally accepted ‘best practices’, which are increasingly being adopted as countries continue efforts to reform their ICT sectors.
Both general authorization and open entry regimes have gained acceptance in developed economies as ‘best practices’ for permitting the provision of a wide range of ICT services. This section will review practices and procedures that have been adopted in these regimes.
General authorization regimes also exist in some developing and transitional economies, although individual authorization frameworks are far more common. Where general authorization regimes do exist, they have been adapted to meet the particular conditions in these countries (e.g., low levels of competition). This section will also review practices and procedures in general authorization regimes that have been adopted in developing and transitional economies.