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Belarus - Market Intelligence Report
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Market Intelligence Reports provide an invaluable mix of vital market data and background information, including telecoms regulation. The telecommunications market in Belarus remains relatively closed to competition and is almost entirely under the control of the state. The government controls the market via the Ministry of Communications and Informatization (MCI), which effectively acts as the national regulator, issues licences, and oversees the development and implementation of national telecommunications development policy. However, as part of its commitments to joining the World Trade Organization (WTO), the government of Belarus has been required to set a date for the liberalisation of the country's basic telecommunications services sector. In January 2003, the MCI announced that state-owned incumbent public telecommunications operator Beltelecom would be privatised in 2007; at the same time, the market will begin to be opened to competition. It is reported that as many as 15 foreign companies have expressed an interest in participating in the privatisation of Beltelecom or securing licences to operate as a competitor. Along with liberalisation, it is considered necessary that Belarus separate the telecommunications regulatory system from state control and influence; an independent regulatory body could be in place in time for liberalisation but, given the present government's preference to maintain tight control over the media, this seems somewhat unlikely at the present time. President Lukashenko's desire to establish a formal union between Belarus and Russia may also work against full liberalisation. Until 2005, the primary telecommunications legislation in force in Belarus was the October 1994 Law on Communications, which had been supplemented by secondary legislation governing the development of Internet and electronic communications services over the intervening decade. It was considered necessary to introduce a completely new Law on Communications, taking into account all of the latest technological and market developments. The new Law on Communications was adopted in August 2005, although it appears to protect Beltelecom's exclusive rights to own and operate public telecommunications infrastructure, meaning that prospective new entrants would only be able to offer services via Beltelecom's network.
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