This paper introduces a symposium on the economics and regulation of pay broadcasting. First it reviews the costs of providing combinations of analogue and digital television programming and telecommunication services using a variety of possible combinations of technologies and discusses demand...

Recent discussion of regulatory interventions in telecommunications markets have considered an approach in which competitors are encouraged progressively to make investments in network assets which are less and less easily replicable--thus climbing 'the ladder of investment.' The paper proposes...

The introduction of spectrum trading creates opportunities for operators, singly or jointly, to foreclose entry into downstream markets by accumulating unneeded spectrum holdings. After considering how these issues are treated under administrative methods of spectrum management, the paper...

This article describes the application of alternative cost allocation methodologies to the Hull telephone system, which provides service to a small area of the UK independently of British Telecom. The article first discusses alternative uses of and methods for allocating costs among access,...

Since mobile communications began in the United Kingdom in 1985, with the licensing of two cellular networks, the number of subscribers has grown to eight million. Much of this growth has occurred in the past five years, which have also seen the emergence of new competition in the form of two...

The paper reviews the preceeding theoretical and econometric analysis, and the case study of the Netherlands. It suggests that entrants' strategies will be influenced by the level of access prices and on the degree of investment in infrastructure which entrants have to make to be eligible to...

There is now strong interest among governments in allocating public funds for the purpose of promoting investment in very high speed broadband. Motives include industrial policy, and the attainment of equity objectives and of economic recovery. The paper examines the various dimensions of choice...

Next generation access (NGA) networks are an opportunity and a challenge for regulators. Unlike the costs of a copper access networks, those of an NGA are not yet sunk; hence fixed monopoly suppliers need an incentive to invest. This need is likely to influence the regulator's unbundling and...

The attention of the EU is currently focused on which aspects of telecommunications should be regulated at a national and which at a European level. The paper argues that in practice this is not an 'either/or' question, but a question of the degree of regulatory detail at the European level. The...

The paper discusses the dilemmas facing European regulators (the European Commission and the national regulatory authorities) over the promotion of investment in Next Generation Access Networks (NGANs). Whereas the US has adopted a deregulatory approach and parts of Asia takes an approach linked...