This title presents the case that opening international voice communication to competition is key to reform the telecommunications sector, is sustainable in developing countries, and results in major gains to consumers, businesses, and to the economy.Over the last 20 years full competition became a dominant attribute in virtually all high-income countries and in selected developing countries. Three forces were behind competition: globalization, technological change, and the emergence of international telecommunications as an enabler for integration and trade.Now over 80 percent of global voice traffic originates in fully competitive markets. Resistance to competition remains strong in several developing countries, even though countries such as Chile and El Salvador have demonstrated spectacular success in introducing and sustaining competition. A spectrum of reasons for resistance to competition exist. Some reasons are telecommunications-specific (lack of technical, regulatory and
