Publication: Liberalizing Telecommunications in Mauritania
Date
2001-12
ISSN
Published
2001-12
Author(s)
Nair, Govindan G.
Tintchev, Svetoslav
Abstract
A relative latecomer to
telecommunications reform, Mauritania, a low-income country
of 2.5 million inhabitants on the Western edge of the
Sahara, embarked on tan ambitious telecommunication reform
in 1998. At that time, this largely desert nation had one of
the lowest penetrations of telephony in the world. The
immediate reform objectives were to ensure rapid improvement
of telecommunications service availability through a)
opening the sector to competition; and b) privatization of
the state-owned telecommunications operator in Mauritania.
Launched within an overall program of macroeconomic and
structural reforms assisted by the World Bank, the
telecommunications reform agenda faced several risks and
constraints: 1) a virtual lack of institutional capacity and
experience in privatization and regulation of utilities in a
competitive framework; 2) the country's lack of name
recognition, and poor investor perception of country risk
and commercial attractiveness; and 3) with the onset of the
East Asian financial crisis and increasing indebtedness of
major European telecommunications operators in 2000, a
highly challenging environment for attracting new capital
into high-risk emerging market telecommunications sectors.
Citation
“Nair, Govindan G.; Tintchev, Svetoslav. 2001. Liberalizing Telecommunications in Mauritania. Africa Region Findings & Good Practice Infobriefs; No. 71. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/02505ad7-4e3e-5efd-9a6c-98b7a4693828 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”