The Privatization of the Fixed-Line Telecommunications Operator in OECD, Latin America, Asia, and Africa: One Size Does Not Fit All

SummaryThis paper challenges the idea that there exists a unique model of reform for infrastructure sectors which is equally applicable across regions and countries and expected to yield similar outcomes. We perform an empirical analysis of the impact of privatization of the fixed-line activity of the traditional telecommunications operator on network expansion, tariffs, and labor efficiency in a 1985–2007 data set on a selection of 108 countries that we split into regional sub-samples. We find that the performance of privatization depends to a large extent on regional factors related to market profitability, wealth, and geography.