In this introduction the guest editor of this special issue of Telecommunications Policy outlines the paradoxes that characterize China's place in the contemporary world and are shaping its telecommunications development. He also introduces the articles collected in this issue.

This paper links the analysis of IP address policy to the established vocabulary and concepts of institutional economics. Internet addressing and routing are usually discussed in technical terms, yet embedded in this highly technical discourse are a number of critical economic concepts, such as...

This paper uses the economics of technical standards as the focal point for analysing current issues in radio frequency allocation. It argues that market forces can be introduced into radio frequency allocation by setting general rather than technology-specific interference standards, which...

The insightful contributions shed new light on insufficiently examined issues and highlight connections that cut across the many different domains in which such regulations operate. Building upon the framework presented by David Post – one of the first and most prominent scholars of cyber...

This article discusses the significance of the 1997 sovereignty transfer for the development of telecommunications in the greater China region. The article argues that the verbally simple 'one country, two systems' formula papers over the complexities of what will actually be a long-term process...

China's telecommunication services sector was closed to foreign direct investment (FDI) during the 1990s. The official ban on FDI persisted despite China's enormous demand for capital to build out its telecommunication infrastructure. It remained in place despite statements from Western analysts...

The universality of telephone service is generally believed to be an achievement of regulated monopoly and rate subsidies. This paper critically examines the historical claims of what it terms the ideology of universal service. It shows that a ubiquitous telephone infrastructure developed in the...