Whilst telecoms law applicable to telecoms carriers or operators remains primarily a national affair (even in the case of Europe, which has a harmonised telecoms framework) there is an international framework of treaty obligations that impose obligations on countries at the international level.
These include:
- market liberalisation commitments pursuant to World Trade Organisations (WTO) negotiations, in particular commitments pursuant to the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS); and
- obligations imposed pursuant to the various treaties associated with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), particularly relating to the use of radio spectrum, numbers and technical standards.
I have also included historic perspectives on two very different ASEAN jurisdictions:
- Myanmar; and
- Singapore.
Last updated: April 2020.