countries (including Malawi) compared to 24 where<sup>nocellular operatorswereoperating-</sup> although several additional countries had already licensed<sup>newentrantsby this time.Further,it</sup> was relatively common for the incumbent to either provide<sup>cellularservicesdirectlyor forit to</sup> partially or completely own the cellular provider.<sup>5</sup> Before<sup>reform,TNM paid only aboutKwacha</sup> 5,000-7,000/year (US$327-$458 at the end of 1995 and<sup>US$236-$330attheendof1997)in</sup> license fees. Further, TNM was assigned all frequencies in the<sup>GSM900 band.</sup> In addition to being the monopoly provider of local<sup>fixed-line,long-distance and</sup> international services and the part owner of the monopoly<sup>providerof cellularservices,Malawi</sup> Post and Telecommunications Corporation (MPTC) was<sup>involvedinmany othersubsectors.</sup> Although TV Malawi did not start broadcasting until after being<sup>separatedfromMPTC,it wasa</sup> sub-project within MPTC before reform. In addition, MPTC<sup>owned50percentof MalawiNet,</sup> which was the sole full service Internet Service Provider (ISP)<sup>beforereform.6</sup> In addition to being the sole provider of these services, Malawi<sup>Postsand</sup> Telecommunications Corporation (MPTC) was also responsible for<sup>mostregulatoryfunctions.</sup> MPTC was responsible for the licensing operators in all areas of telecommunications<sup>(e.g.,ISPs</sup> and cellular companies), spectrum frequency allocation, type<sup>approval for equipment, technical</sup> standards and numbering plans. The sector ministry appointed<sup>amajorityofMPTCboard</sup> 4The govemment's policy of maintaining tight control<sup>overthemediaalsomadeliberalizationof</sup> telecommunications unlikely before democratization. Although less political threatening than reform of broadcasting, technological change made even telecommunications<sup>reformpoliticallydifficultsincereducingthe</sup> cost and increasing the availability of communications tends<sup>toreducethegovernnent'spoweroverinformation.</sup> One striking example of this in Malawi is that as pressure<sup>for democratizationin Malawi increased,groups opposed</sup> to President Banda's single-party rule circulated anonymous<sup>letterscriticizingthegovernmentusing faxmachines</sup> (Newell, 1995, p. 244). Technologies that have developed<sup>recentlysuchastheInternetwouldmakeiteven more</sup> difficult for the government to maintain its monopoly over information in the presence<sup>of reform.</sup> 5For example, among the 42 countries covered in International<sup>TelecommunicationsUnion(1998a),27of the37</sup> countries with at least one cellular operator had an operator<sup>that waseither partially or fully owned by theincumbent</sup> in 1998. Data is from International Telecommunications Union<sup>(1998a)oriscollected fromtheEconomist</sup> Intelligence Unit.

**6** Epsilon and Omega also provided an E-mail service to about<sup>250subscribersby 1998and ComputerSolutions had</sup> an e-mail service that had been operating intermittently since 1995. UJNIMA, an e-mail server, was based at Chancellor College in Zomba. Finally, Healthnet, which was based<sup>inthe UnitedStates,providedconnectionsfor</sup> health workers at the Malawi College of Medicine (Article 19, 1998,<sup>p.13).</sup>

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