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The purpose of this paper is to show that, while in many low income countries inefficient regulatory regimes have been blamed for impeding ICT market development, Tanzania constitutes a remarkable exception. This study aims to identify the organizational and contextual factors that have enabled the Tanzanian Communications Regulatory Agency (TCRA) to implement innovative regulations, including a fully converged licensing framework as the first country on the continent, and how subsequently these regulations have influenced market development.

The analysis is based on case study data gathered through 20 face‐to‐face interviews in 2006 as well as secondary data gathered from government documents, news reports and company web sites.

The research finds that the market developments and regulatory innovations were due in part to Tanzania's Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA)'s high level of autonomy, afforded by independent funding mechanisms and lack of capacity of the Ministry, which pressed the regulator to play a greater role in policy making than is found in other countries. Further, TCRA's significant internal focus on capacity building has also enabled strong regulatory governance.

The results provide further evidence of the role that institutional endowments and regulatory governance play in fostering policy reform.

The research examines regulatory innovations in a region typically associated with regulatory inefficiencies. It identifies institutional factors and subsequently shows how in a very low income country they may be conducive to effective regulatory governance and market development.

Wi‐Fi technologies enable small‐scale, bottom‐up development of community networks in (rural) under‐serviced areas in developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to examine: the constraints and opportunities that small Wi‐Fi providers have faced to date in their endeavors to develop Wi‐Fi community networks in South Africa; and the extent to which the newly introduced Electronic Communications Act of 2006 might alleviate any of the constraints.

Through interviews and document analysis the paper analyzes regulations and license application procedures in South Africa, and exemplifies the impact of both through discussion of experiences of a municipal and small private Wi‐Fi provider.

While formal regulation prohibits community network deployment due to low power limits and restriction of the use of Wi‐Fi within private premises, informal regulatory constraints as a result of lack of clarity on licensing requirements as well as time‐consuming application processes further prevent small Wi‐Fi providers from entering the market. In order to further stimulate universal access strategies, regulators may find incentives to ease these constraints, particularly as innovations in wireless technologies will continue to increase bottom‐up development of ICT networks by small local entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs, without extensive expertise in law and regulation, will increase the burden and workload of regulators that, particularly in developing countries, frequently face under‐capacity.

This paper extends the debate about spectrum‐licensing barriers for Wi‐Fi community network development in developing countries by providing insight into not only formal but also informal regulatory constraints that impede Wi‐Fi community network provision.