International Friction and Cooperation in High-Technology Development and Trade Papers and Proceedings (1997) / Chapter Skim
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International Cooperation and Market Access in Telecommunications
International Cooperation and Market Access in Telecommunications
Pages 168-180
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From page 168... ...
The themes that we will be trying to capture in this session are the opportunities of global cooperation, the opportunities presented by global information infrastructure, and at the same time, some of the difficulties that are associated with access to national markets. Global Opportunities Carlos Primo Braga, The World Bank Today I will focus on global opportunities.
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From page 169... ...
I suggest here that, from the point of view of the world economy and from the point of view of science and technology, what happens in many developing countries will be vital, not only for their own development, but also for the future of the world economy. So I begin my talk with a vision of the future qualified by the obvious caveat: "He who predicts the future is bound to be wrong even when he happens to be right." I present three issues.
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From page 170... ...
The negotiations on basic telecommunications are still in progress, but if you look at the commitments on value-added services made in the context of the GATS negotiations, it is clear that most developing countries have not yet convinced themselves of the importance of being connected in a competitive environment. In Latin America, for example, if we take the "universe" of possible service activities in value-added services that could be offered, only 5.7 percent of these activities were offered by Latin American countries.
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From page 171... ...
Thank you. The Need for Market Access Don Abelson, Office of the United States Trade Representative My discussion focuses on how to proceed to cooperate so as to open overseas markets.
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From page 172... ...
If you listen to the presentations of developing countries and the need they have for infrastructure development, and the fact that if they want to be on the fast road in this environment, and that they need this kind of development, then they should be the "demandeurs." Some would have the United States be the demandeur to ensure that overseas markets are open. That is the point on which I would like to focus the remainder of my comments.
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From page 173... ...
We have heard every reason and every excuse for not allowing competition in the United States during the past 15-20 years of our process of demonopolization. Just remember the "hush-a-phone" case, which is a classic.
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From page 174... ...
I say this because we are all "demandeurs" in this negotiation. The United States is, key developing countries are, certainly the Europeans are, and, our friends in Japan are.
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From page 175... ...
The United States was willing to open the state, local, and federal government markets and to bind open the monopoly regional Bell operating companies to open in transparent procurement. But it was the Europeans at that particular
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From page 176... ...
It is a different ball game with respect to services vis-a-vis the government procurement plurilateral agreement. SYLVIA OSTRY: Given the definition, the services sector is really not a traditional trade sector.
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From page 177... ...
It was in 1993 that AT&T put it on the market as a commercial product. From 1964 to 1993, the commercialization of that product was somewhat dampened by the fact that there was a regulatory policy within the United States that was very customer-user focused.
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From page 178... ...
There was disruption of employment, but today there are more companies in the telecommunications business. Currently, there are 650 long distance telephone companies in the United States.
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From page 179... ...
Is the French telephone system so inefficient that they have to pay so much, or is there a huge subsidy in there that is going into the pockets of some sort of a program that is keeping some social program alive, or is it subsidizing some producer who may be in the United States selling against the competitive market? But the fact of the matter is that there is a huge disparity in the prices.
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From page 180... ...
In that regard, that would be a foundation of private, commercial companies competing with each other in a global market, not unlike private commercial companies competing with each other between Europe and the United States today. That then says that procurement becomes private and commercial.
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