Image: Seree Tansrisawat / Shutterstock.com
We are in danger of returning to an age where political intervention in the market is getting more pervasive. Essential infrastructure such as telecommunications, media and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) are national assets which need to be made available and affordable to everyone, all the time. To achieve that, governments have to regulate and legislate where needed. But the rest needs to be left alone.
Today, almost every government in Asia is failing in this aspect, in one respect or another. Few can claim to have come close to an ‘enlightened’ pattern of intervention in telecom, media and ICT. The UK is one exception to this: It has a competitive ICT market, even-handed policies that encourage local and foreign investment, a liberal environment for mergers & acquisitions (M&As) and strong financial markets that can facilitate it. Crucially the UK’s telecommunications regulator, OfCom, has an unremitting dedication to understanding and protecting consumer interests with firmness and transparency, backed by the power of law to impose weighty sanctions.
In Asia, Singapore is possibly the most integrated, with the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) overseeing ICT regulation and policy, as well as setting digital vision and strategy. Other countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and India continue to struggle between what to focus on and what to leave to the market. For example:
There are a few key steps the government must ensure for the industry:
These are the things we definitely don’t want politicians to be doing in 2016:
The thoughts and opinions shared here are of the author.
Check out our end of season subscription discounts with a Moneycontrol pro subscription absolutely free. Use code EOSO2021. Click here for details.