Kariyawasam, Rohan --- "International telecommunications" [2007] ELECD 104; in Guzman, T. Andrew; Sykes, O. Alan (eds), "Research Handbook in International Economic Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2007)

Book Title: Research Handbook in International Economic Law

Editor(s): Guzman, T. Andrew; Sykes, O. Alan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781843766742

Section: Chapter 13

Section Title: International telecommunications

Author(s): Kariyawasam, Rohan

Number of pages: 42

Extract:

13. International telecommunications
Rohan Kariyawasam1



Only connect!
E.M. Forster (1879­1970) Howards End

1. Introduction
The noted international trade lawyer and legal jurist John H. Jackson once
defined international economic law as embracing `trade, investment, services
when they are involved in transactions that cross national borders, and those
subjects that involve the establishment on national territory of economic activ-
ity of persons or firms originating from outside that territory'.2 He left out
competition, although it could be argued that competition by its nature would
be encompassed indirectly by the reference to `economic activity'.
Furthermore in looking at the definition, one could easily see that telecommu-
nications as an `economic activity' would also fall within Jackson's definition.
As an economic sector, telecommunications is generally a vertically integrated
sector generating economies of scale with very low marginal costs.
Telecommunications as a technical sector is covered by a number of interna-
tional treaties including the Outer Space Treaty 1967, the Intelsat Agreement
1971, the Convention of International Telecommunication Union (ITU
Convention), the World Administrative Telegraph and Telephone Conference

1 The author has worked as a consultant for several global commercial law
practices and as an external consultant to the UK's Department for International
Development (DFID), Cable & Wireless, and the UK's Office of Telecommunications
(OFTEL, now OFCOM), and the World Bank. In the early 1990s, he was Asia-Pacific
Product Manager for McGraw-Hill's strategic business ICT research consultancy,
Northern Business Information. He is a past Fulbright Scholar ...