This paper compares and contrasts the processes used by the European, United Kingdom and Scottish parliaments in considering broadband policies, legislation, regulatory systems and outcomes, within a complex triple-tiered governance system. Broadband is of increasing importance due to the...

The Scottish Government has issued a prospectus for independence, should it win a plebiscite in September 2014. It plans independence to be in March 2016, together with accession to membership of the European Union. Its proposed arrangements for the regulation of broadcasting are presently very...

In order to encourage investment in telecommunication networks, governments have been encouraged to adopt a regulatory state model, with an independent regulatory authority that is subject to a system of appeals and to parliamentary oversight, providing different forms of accountability. The...

In a referendum on 23rd June 2016, the United Kingdom (UK) voted for ‘Brexit’, i.e., to leave the European Union (EU). After some delay the government will invoke Article 50 TEU, which would begin a two-year period of negotiation for a withdrawal agreement, after which the EU treaties would...

Mobile telecommunications has been a considerable success with consumers, yet markets are oligopolies designed by governments and by industry, with many flaws, including limited ability to regulate prices, quality of service and coverage. Markets have been partially opened to competition, with...

One of the most distinctive characteristics of the U.S. telephone system is that it has always been privately owned, in stark contrast to the pattern of government ownership followed by virtually every other nation. What is not widely known is how close the United States came to falling in line...

Can courts cause dramatic policy change? And if courts can, are there institutional features of courts and/or conditions under which they operate that make them particularly able and likely to change policy dramatically? Public law scholars would generally answer “no” to the first question,...

The FCC Procedural Reform for Openness and Clarity Encouraging Sensible Solutions Act (FCC PROCESS Act) is a commendable effort to improve decision making at the Commission, and upon analysis it is evident the proposed reforms would do much in improving both transparency and timeliness in the...

The success of airline deregulation challenged the claims of public choice theory, which asserts that regulation serves the purposes of the regulated firms themselves. One prominent explanation for airline deregulation is that "political entrepreneurs" can, under certain circumstances, challenge...

Regulatory outcomes can vary substantially from one US state to the next. For example, at the end of 2002 regulated prices for access to the local loops of incumbent telephone networks varied from $2.79 per month in downtown Chicago, IL to $7.70 in Manhattan, NY to $12.14 in Houston, TX....