| This research analyzes Guatemala's 1996 telecommunications reform, with an emphasis on how the introduction of private property rights in the electromagnetic spectrum has affected provision of, and access to, non-profit community radio, a critical media for the country's indigenous Maya. The Guatemalan 'experiment' is the first applied test of Ronald Coase's 1959 call for property rights in radio spectrum. To date, spectrum liberalization in most countries, including Canada, has upheld a model of resource stewardship in which the state retains ownership of the spectrum and a measure of control over frequency allocations. In Guatemala, by contrast, the state has ceded spectrum control to the private sector by auctioning off legal title to electromagnetic frequencies and allowing secondary markets in spectrum trading to develop. Formerly free under license to Guatemalan nationals only, FM frequencies sold with title under Guatemala's revamped telecommunications law fetch as much as US... |
