Getting a Dial Tone: Telecommunications Liberalisation in Malaysia and the Philippines

Ninety-nine percent of Filipinos are waiting for a telephone and the other one percent for a dial tone…” - Lee Kuan Yew, November 1992.
A decade after the above quote, far reaching reforms in the telecommunications sector has dramatically changed the situation in both the Philippines and Malaysia. By looking at the institutions and actors that drove these changes, this book examines state capacity, market reform, and rent-seeking in the two countries. In doing so, the study challenges conven…