Motivation, background and problem statement: Fixed and mobile broadband substitutability has recently been a debate in the telecom industry as the issue affects infrastructure investment decisions of service providers and service obligation regulation decision of telecom authorities. Previous...

Since June 15, 2017, mobile network operators in the European Economic Area may not impose surcharges for making telephone calls, sending text messages, or using data services in other EEA countries. The regulation was designed to create a digital domestic market without adversely affecting...

Utility providers, such as energy companies and railway operators, have been long emphasised as driving competition and facilitating investment in broadband markets. Nevertheless, their involvement and contribution to broadband development has varied significantly over time. In the late 1990s,...

The "net neutrality" principle has triggered a heated debate and advocates have proposed policy interventions. In this paper, we provide perspective by framing issues in terms of the positive economic factors at work. We stress the incentives of market participants, and highlight the economic...

The introduction of mobile broadband technology, smartphones and dongles has resulted in a tremendous increase of mobile data traffic. Future demand for more capacity can be met by allocation of more bandwidth and new spectrum bands to mobile communication. But spectrum is a scarce resource and...

This paper provides an overview of telecommunications regulation in the U.S. and in Europe. For each region the history of telecommunications regulations as well as the current regulatory regime is portrayed. The focus of this overview is on the question of how unbundling regulations in the...

Over the past decade, the national communications agency in America, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), went through a period of significant regulatory transformation in the area of high-speed, broadband Internet regulation. This paper will describe some of the key elements and...

Price cap regulation uses a formula, set in advance, to determine the price increases for a firm's services for a period of several years. During this period, the firm may keep all the benefits of its incremental productivity gains. Customers can also benefit because the price cap formula may...

Launching and stimulating competition in telecommunications markets is an important policy goal. It contains two elements: to encourage entry and to make competition effective such that consumers benefit. The first one requires that entrants can make profits after investing in infrastructure so...