‘The Washington Consensus’ in relation to the telecommunication sector in African developing countries

This paper investigates the outcome of the World Bank paradigm termed the Washington Consensus in relation to the telecommunication sector in developing countries in Africa. The World Bank sponsored programs focus on privatisation and deregulation as an administrative reform within the context of “good governance”. The article clarifies the underlying theory of adjustment to see how realistic its assumptions are, and then traces the impact of those components of the policy package that relate specifically to expansion of service provision. Based on these terms, the outcomes of deregulation and privatisation are spectacularly different.