Privatization and Regulatory Reform in the Middle East and North Africa Area

During the nineties, the globalization of telecommunications imposed a model of development based on the suppression of public monopolies, leading to international competition and the privatization of public telecommunication operators. These economic dynamics have been fostering regulatory and institutional adjustments whose objective is to guarantee a stable and transparent environment for investors and consumers. Such adjustments must also establish standards that enable connections between networks and promote a satisfactory quality-to-price ratio. More globally, redefinition of the regulatory and legal framework indicates a transition towards a new regulatory paradigm based on full market competition, impartiality of the public authorities, equity and transparency. The methodological approach chosen by the author is mainly based on the new institutional economics literature. His purpose is to analyze how institutional complementarities affect public and private actors’ decisions and interactions, and how they could explain the coexistence of several models of liberalization.