Bypass and Transit - Arbitrage Issues in International Interconnection and Revenue Reporting in Developing Countries

摘要

Developing countries often have unbalanced telecommunications tariffs and assistance with sectoral reform is typically conditional on a measure of tariff rebalancing. Technology developments, particularly in Voice over Internet Protocol mean that there are both licensed and unlicensed competitive pressures on operators during the rebalancing phase. As a result, operators will tend to seek alternative revenue streams and this increases the level of supply of transit services. The combination of these effects leads to a significant reduction in settlement revenue but ultimately results in increased gross domestic product and competitive outcomes.