Wellenius, BjornFoster, VivienMalmberg-Calvo, Christina2013-06-252013-06-252004-08https://hdl.handle.net/10986/14168Market-oriented reforms of infrastructure in developing countries tend to focus primarily on commercially viable services in urban areas. Nevertheless, an increasing number of countries are beginning to experiment with extending the market paradigm to infrastructure services in rural areas that are often less attractive in commercial terms. In these cases, subsidies are used to close the gap between market requirements and development needs, and are increasingly determined and allocated on a competitive basis. The authors discuss the conditions under which competition among firms for such subsidies-successfully used in the telecommunications sector in a number of middle-income countries-could also be applied to electricity, water and sanitation, and transportation services in lower-income countries.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGORURAL INFRASTRUCTURERURAL DEVELOPMENTRURAL ELECTRIFICATIONRURAL ENERGYTELECOMMUNICATIONS SECTORWATER & SANITATIONTRANSPORT SERVICES ACCESS BARRIERSBIDDINGBUSINESS MODELSBUSINESS OPPORTUNITIESBUSINESS OPPORTUNITYBUSINESS ORGANIZATIONSBUSINESS STRATEGIESCAPITAL INVESTMENTSCOMMUNAL FACILITIESCOMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIESCOMMUNITY DEVELOPMENTCOMMUNITY WATERCOMPETITIVE BASISCOMPETITIVE MARKETSCONNECTION CHARGESCONNECTION FEECONSUMER GOODSCONTRACTORSCOST RECOVERYCROSS-SUBSIDIESDEBTDEBT FINANCINGDEVELOPED COUNTRIESDOMESTIC CONNECTIONSECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC POLICIESELECTRICITYEXTERNALITIESFARMSHAND PUMPHOUSEHOLD CONNECTIONSHOUSEHOLDSINCOMEINITIAL INVESTMENTINVESTMENT COSTINVESTMENT COSTSLEVIESLICENSESLOCAL AUTHORITIESLOCAL OPERATORSLOCAL WATERMAINTENANCE COSTSMARGINAL COSTMARKET DISTORTIONSMUNICIPALITIESPAYPHONESPOLICY RESEARCHPOTABLE WATERPRIVATE COMPANIESPRIVATE FINANCINGPRIVATE OPERATORPRIVATE OPERATORSPRIVATE SECTORPROGRAMSPROVISION OF SERVICESPUBLIC SECTORPUBLIC SERVICEPUBLIC TRANSPORTQUALITY STANDARDSRADIOREFRIGERATIONREGULATORY FRAMEWORKRENEWABLE RESOURCESRESPONSIBILITY FOR SERVICE PROVISIONREVENUE COLLECTIONROADSRURAL COMMUNITIESRURAL ELECTRIFICATIONRURAL INFRASTRUCTURERURAL OPERATORSRURAL TELECOMMUNICATIONSRURAL TELEPHONYRURAL WATERRURAL WATER SUPPLYSANITATIONSANITATION FACILITIESSANITATION SERVICESSAVINGSSCALE ECONOMIESSEPTIC TANKSERVICE CONTRACTSSERVICE DELIVERYSERVICE DELIVERY MECHANISMSSERVICE DEVELOPMENTSERVICE PROVIDERSSERVICE PROVISIONSERVICE QUALITYSERVICE STANDARDSSEWERAGE SYSTEMSSMALL MUNICIPALITIESSMALL TOWNSSURFACE WATERTAXTAX REVENUETAXATIONTECHNICAL ASSISTANCETELECENTERSTELECOMMUNICATIONSTELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIESTELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORKSTELECOMMUNICATIONS SECTORTELEPHONE LINESTELEPHONESTELEVISIONTOWNTOWNSTRADEOFFSTRANSPARENCYURBAN AREASURBAN WATERURBAN WATER SUPPLYUSER CHARGESWASTEWATER TREATMENTWATERWATER COVERAGEWATER DISTRIBUTIONWATER QUALITYWATER SERVICEWATER SERVICESWATER SOURCESWATER SUPPLIESWATER SUPPLYWATER SUPPLY COMPANYWATER SUPPLY SYSTEMSWATER SYSTEMWATER SYSTEMSWATER USERWILLINGNESS TO PAYWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-3365