Privatization: As public as it gets

ENAR

If you walk down the streets of Beirut on any given day, chances are you will hear a passer-by cursing the sub-par quality of Lebanon’s mobile networks and services and the “exorbitant” prices levied on consumers by the two GSM providers. Yet when you ask many members of the public if they support privatizing the same network, they will adamantly disagree. This dichotomy epitomizes the problem with obtaining the buy-in for privatization: its benefits are concrete, but they have to be clearly communicated to be understood by the public. Lebanon is just one side of the privatization spectrum, where political quarrels and a skeptical public have slowed down the process to the detriment of citizens, who have been facing deteriorating mobile and electricity services among others. On the other side of the spectrum, however, there are numerous case studies in countries where privatization has been a success, in large part