nformation and communications technologies affect the efficiency of government. Defense, national security, and crime- fighting applications bring with them major political implications. Given this background of the pervasive impact that information and communi- cations technologies have, it is hardly surprising that they get heavy policy attention. Regulatory Background Although many national regulatory authorities today are separate from central gov- ernment, they are built on foundations of government policy. Indeed, the very act of creating an independent regulatory body is a key policy decision. Historically, before telecommunications privatization and liberalization came to the fore, regu- lation was often carried out within central government, which also controlled the state-run telcos. That has changed in recent years in many, but not all, countries. Given their policy foundation, and the fact that government policies vary from country to country and from time to time, it is not surprising that regulatory envi- ronments evolve and differ. These evolutions and international variations some- times pose planning problems for the industry, and these problems can lead to frustrations and tensions between companies and regulatory agencies. They can also lead to disagreements between countries (e.g., over trade issues). Although moves to encourage international harmonization of regulatory regimes (e.g., by the ITU and by the European Commission) have been partially successful, differences remain in the ways in which countries interpret laws and recommendations. More- over, given that regulations need to reflect changing market conditions and techno- logical capabilities, it is inevitable that over time regulatory environments will change, too. So regulation is best viewed as another of the variables, such as techno- logical change, that the telecommunications industry needs to take into account. The Policy and Regulatory Players At the global level, a number of international bodies govern or make recommenda- tio