The international telecommunication regime in the information age

This paper examines recent changes in the international telecommunication regime. The concept of an international regime comes from the field of international relations. Although it is not universally accepted, one of the most widely supported definitions describes an international regime as, ‘implicit or explicit principles, norms, rules, and decision‐making procedures around which actors’ expectations converge in a given area of international relations'. ¹ The ‘given area’ of concern here is telecommunication. Telecommunication and the principles, norms, rules and decision‐making procedures which are relevant to it at the international level—which have been studied extensively by communications and development economics scholars ²—have only rarely been the focus of international relations scholars. ³ The objective of this paper is to use tools from the study of international relations to explore subject matter that has more frequently been the focus of scholars in communications, development economics, and information economics.