Thorsten Scherf

Curriculum Vitae

Since 2008 Thorsten Scherf is advisor on ICT for development at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). An economist by training, he has worked as research assistant for the Institute for Co-operation in Developing Countries (ICDC) at the Department of Business Administration and Economics of Philipps Universität Marburg from 2003 until 2007. His focus in research and in his doctoral studies is on financing mechanisms for providing telecommunications in rural areas of developing countries. Prior to his doctoral studies he has worked for about two years in the department of regulatory economics of a German telecommunication carrier. He received his Diplom (equivalent to MA) in 2000.

Research Project

Provision of Universal Access to Telecommunications in Rural Areas of Developing Countries - a Comparative Analysis

The research focuses on a comparative analysis of measures (universal access obligations,  universal access funds, co-operatives) for providing universal access to telecommunication services in the rural areas of developing countries. The analysis will be done by applying models of incentive theory. The research provide insights on the influence of  specific institutional and market conditions in developing countries on  effectiveness and outcomes of  analysed measures and regulatory measures in general.

The focus of field research is on country (Peru, Bolivia, Uganda) and developing country specific institutional structures and their impact on regulatory measures and the outcomes of these. Therefore different stakeholders (providers, regulatory agency, customers, reseller, and politicians) to get an objective-based impression of the development level of institutions (jurisdiction, legislative, corruption, tax- and transfer system) were interviewed. Aim is to analyze if there is cohesion between the institutional framework and the performance of measures for providing universal access in rural areas. Peru, Bolivia and Uganda are choosen for areas of research because they offer a wide spectrum of measures (universal access funds in combination with subsidy auctions, co-operatives, universal access obligations) and institutional structures. The results of the empiric research are confronted with theories of regulatory economics and new institutional economics. Therefore there is build up a prinicipal-agent model inspired by approaches of Laffont and Tirole.