Trends in the Telecommunications Industry Worldwide, and in Russia in Particular

The telecommunications industry is in a state of transformation and becoming ever more complex. Fast changes in the communication landscape, resulting from technological change and the development of new services, are affecting the core business of telecommunication operators. The industry is to refocus on emerging higher value-added services, which often require significant investment in new network technologies, and balancing this against shareholders' focus on shorter-term performance (OECD 2007a, p. 18).

All of these trends have an enormous impact on the regulatory implications in the telecommunications industry. In this chapter, the general structure and technological developments in the telecommunications industry worldwide is presented. Then attention is directed to the current state of telecommunications around the world. The reforming processes and their reasons are presented. Furthermore, the WTO agreements on telecommunications, as the main international regulatory framework in this sector, are described. The most interesting examples of sector reforming around the world are explained. In Sect. 2.3, the historical development of telecommunications regulation in the centrally planned system is presented, giving an idea, where the liberalization processes in the transition countries were started. Then the focus is shifted to the Russian telecommunications sector, which is of special interest in this research, and an in depth analysis of the current state takes place.