Telecommunications Regulation: Current Approaches with the End in Sight

Authors consider the question in this paper of the transition from regulated monopoly to competitive local markets in telecommunications. Technological change in terms of cellular/mobile competition has arisen over the past 20 years where in most industrialized countries more than 80% of the population has cellular service. Even more importantly the spread of competing fiber networks operated by cable companies that offer voice service and broadband service, in addition to pay TV, has transformed the competitive environment in the US and has the potential to do so in many other countries. This transition will need to be managed within the framework of mandatory unbundling, first adopted in the US in the mid-1990s, and now used by regulators in most advanced economies.