This article argues that the higher telephone prices that have emerged in the payphone and alternative operator services (AOS) industries are the result of competitive forces operating in the retail markets served by aggregators. Since these prices are competitive, any attempt to set them at...

Natural monopoly theory fails to provide a credible reason for regulation. Before regulation, competition in the US telephone industry performed its classic function of providing discipline on prices, profits and costs. Loop-conserving technological developments have now reduced the minimum...