In accordance with its sector reform policy, Mongolia undertook structural reforms in the communications sector to liberalize the market, digitize the national telecommunications infrastructure, and establish a clear separation between network ownership/operation and service provision. As a major policy directive, the State Great Khural (Parliament) adopted Resolution No. 48 of 2005, which endorsed the structural separation of transmission infrastructure from retail communications service provision.
Subsequently, in 2013, the Government of Mongolia issued Resolution No. 6, mandating the regulatory separation of network infrastructure ownership and operation from business activities related to the provision of public communications services. In line with this policy, the Communications Regulatory Commission (CRC) was instructed to reorganize existing license holders by decoupling overlapping activities and to ensure that infrastructure and service licenses are not jointly held by the same legal entity. This separation principle restricts network licensees from directly providing end-user services and confines their scope to network construction, ownership, and operation only.
Under the revised Law on Communications (2001), as amended, the legal framework governing the establishment, operation, and protection of communications networks is well defined. Article 3.1.10 classifies "communications" as encompassing telecommunications, broadcasting, and postal services, while Article 16.1 explicitly includes telecommunications, postal, radio, television, and information (e.g., internet, computer-based) networks under the definition of communications infrastructure. Furthermore, Article 16.2 provides for the classification of networks into public, internal (private), and special-purpose networks based on their intended use.
Following the adoption of the Law on Postal Services (2003), postal network operation and service provision have since been regulated independently from other communications infrastructure. As a result, postal network regulation has been functionally and legally separated from the broader telecommunications infrastructure framework.
In contrast, telecommunications, information networks, radio, television, and broadcasting networks continue to fall within the regulatory scope of the Communications Law. All non-postal public service networks that provide interconnection between terminal points or within the core infrastructure are classified and regulated as part of the national communications network under this legal framework.
Special-purpose networks are governed in accordance with Article 20.3 of the Communications Law, while internal (private) networks are subject to the provisions of Article 21.2. The CRC applies these provisions when licensing, supervising, and enforcing regulatory compliance for such networks.