This paper has two related objectives. First, it seeks to identify the key determinants of some policies that have been at the heart of the reforms of the telecommunications industry in developing countries, namely, liberalization, privatization, and the (re)structuring of regulation. Second, it...

China's entry into the World Trade Organization offers China a rare opportunity to advance its communications capabilities, but the government must recognize that protecting its favored domestic companies and funding antiquated technology won't allow the country to benefit from everything WTO...

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 has yielded more litigation and less local competition than its supporters expected or intended. Calls for its reform are multiplying. The article diagnoses the 1996 Act's failings and prescribes a framework for reform. The successful deregulations of the...

Causes and consequences of policy reform in utility industries continue to draw debate in US state legislatures. State commissions approve various deregulatory mechanisms in different industries at different times. In the telecommunications market state commissions adopted retail restructuring...

The importance of efficient workings of network industries and the markets in which they operate has long been recognized in the literature. In a parallel fashion, policy makers around the world initiated various restructuring efforts focusing on these sectors. However, the issues of...

The United States has asymmetric regulation of the provision of broadband Internet access service. A cable television system operator is not regulated in its sale of cable modem service. In contrast, an incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) that offers digital subscriber line (DSL) service...

More than a decade has passed since the liberalization of telecommunications in the Netherlands. Nevertheless, the regulator is still mandating access to local access networks, and the incumbent and cable operators have been dragging their feet on upgrading their networks to fiber-based next...

This paper has two related objectives. First, it seeks to identify the key determinants of some policies that have been at the heart of the reforms of the telecommunications industry in developing countries, namely, liberalization, privatization, and the (re)structuring of regulation. Second, it...

The importance of connectivity is growing across the world as the need for access to information and communication technologies is becoming more important for economic development. This paper presents the concept of the connectivity frontier as the expected achievable level of commercially...

Currently, U.S. and EU telecommunications policies differ in many respects. For example, wholesale access to local loops is largely deregulated in the U.S. but continues to be regulated in the EU. Or, the U.S. has an elaborate universal service policy with a set of universal service funds and...