Consistent with the policies of the Economic Adjustment Program (a program devised by the IMF and the World Bank to help Jordan respond to a decline in regional oil revenues and economic growth in the late 1980's), the Jordanian government has started to privatize some of its public establishments. One of those establishments is the TCC, which until 1995 had a virtual monopoly on communications, especially in regard to basic telephone, telex and facsimile services.
In September 1995, the Jordanian Parliament passed legislation which will lead to the privatization of the TCC. The legislation called for initially commercializing the TCC, transforming it into a government owned shareholding company for a period of three to four years. During that period, the TCC is to renew and expand the telecommunications infrastructure in the country. According to this legislation, the TCC will maintain a monopoly on basic services but will allow the private sector to offer other services related to telecommunications. TCC has already started the process of granting qualified companies in the private sector licenses to offer paging and cellular services.
Voice, cable, television and radio are still regulated services. There is no competition in the offering of these services because the TCC has a monopoly over those areas. However, The move toward privatization of the TCC will open the telecommunication industry to competition, leading to lower prices for the consumer as well as more efficiency in the usage and utilization of the networks.