Abstract
This paper examines the changing role of government and market in regulating the telecommunications sector from since 1996 in Taiwan. It contextualises the theoretical aspects of regulatory governance for institutional design and practices, and reviews the concepts and mechanisms for appraising privatisation and regulatory systems. Using a conceptual framework for researching privatisation and regulation, it describes the process and issues pertinent to telecommunications liberalisation and privatisation in Taiwan, supported by a brief presentation of theoretical points of view as well as practitioners' views. The paper presents results concerning criteria for appraising privatisation and regulatory governance and considers policy lessons that can be learned from the experiences of the Taiwanese telecommunications sector's liberalisation. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.