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A comprehensive economic examination of the global competitive restructuring that is now occurring as a result of the US Telecommunications Act 1996. The book guides the reader to the most effective methods of building and enhancing competitive advantage in new markets.
Develop the economic and planning knowledge you need to successfully bring new products to market in the potentially unstable environment to telecommunications deregulation. This ground-breaking book presents the full interpretation of the law, evaluates the US Telecommunications Reform Act of 1996 in its entirety, and addresses the economic implications for prospective market restructuring, impending competition, and strategic planning.
Over the last several years, the value of stocks in both the airline and the telecommunications industries have dropped catastrophically. Since these industries were among the most important—and most visible—to have been unleashed from regulation in recent decades (albeit in widely differing degree), their difficulties have raised the question of whether their deregulation should be reconsidered or even reversed. Alfred E. Kahn, one of the foremost authorities on deregulation, argues in this book that every passing year demonstrates the superiority of the road chosen for the airlines. He contrasts the financial meltdowns of both the airline and telecommunications industries with others taking place at the same time, particularly in technology-related stocks and "dot.coms," pointing out that these sectors were also relatively free of direct economic regulation. Their experience provides a useful counter to the natural tendency to blame all the woes of aviation and telecommunications on government policy. This book provides a valuable and accessible guide to unraveling the complex world of network deregulation. It will serve as a reference point for practioners and policymakers, as well as an important introduction for the general public.
Communications markets have made much progress towards competition and deregulation in recent years. However, it is increasingly clear, in the age of the Internet and the digital revolution, that much more needs to be done, and that new approaches, both at the Federal Communications Commission and in Congress, will be required to complete the task. In this volume, the Progress and Freedom Foundation presents nine papers by communications policy experts and government policymakers that show how to finish the job of deregulating communications markets and reforming the FCC. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was a landmark piece of legislation for an industry moving from a monopoly orientation towards competition, but additional steps are needed to complete the process of implementing the pro-competitive, deregulatory vision of the act. Bringing together a group of the caliber represented in this book makes possible the best recommendations about the exact nature of those necessary changes. In this volume, the most difficult and politically-charged hot-button issues involving local and long distance competition, universal service, spectrum allocation, program content regulation, and the public interest doctrine are confronted head-on. As importantly, the authors recommend specific reform proposals to be considered by the Federal Communications Commission and Congress. The ideas contained in the experts' essays were presented and debated at a conference hosted by The Progress & Freedom Foundation, which was held in Washington, DC, on December 8, 2000. The Progress & Freedom Foundation studies the impact of the digital revolution and its implications for public policy. It conducts research in fields such as electronic commerce, telecommunications and the impact of the Internet on government, society and economic growth. It also studies issues such as the need to reform government regulation, especially in technology-intensive fields such as medical innovation, energy and environmental regulation.
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 has failed to fulfill its deregulatory promise. The act in many cases has replaced regulated monopoly with eerily similar regulated competition. Only markets that are truly free will innovate and remain healthy in the long run. These essays suggest how to move toward free markets in telecommunications.
Numerous studies have demonstrated that investment in telecommunications infrastructure and other forms of information technology is the primary cause of the acceleration in productivity growth, which began in the late 1990s and has continued, unabated, to the present. Economists also recognize that government policies have a major impact on the performance of the heavily regulated telecommunications sector. The Federal Communications Commission and state public utility commissions continue to regulate telecommunications prices at both the retail and wholesale levels, and to impose upon incumbent carriers a complex array of sharing requirements. These rules, known as the "Unbundled Network Element" or "UNE" rules, require incumbent firms to lease their facilities to competitors at prices specified by the FCC and state commissions. One form of UNE, "UNE-P," allows competitors to lease virtually all of the facilities needed to provide service, thereby avoiding the need to make any significant investment of their own. Many economists believe these rules discourage investment in new facilities. In this study, we examine the empirical evidence on the impact of UNE rules on telecommunications investment. While the studies we review utilize different techniques, rely on different data and analyze different variables, they are nearly unanimous in finding that the UNE regime does indeed deter investment. We estimate that UNE reform would increase GDP by between $14.3 billion and $33.9 billion, and create between 94,000 and 223,000 jobs, in the first year after adoption. In three years (i.e. by year-end 2005), GDP would rise by between $42.9 billion and $101.7 billion, and the economy would have created between 282,000 and 669,000 additional jobs.
Advancement of telecommunications and information infrastructure occurs largely through private investment. The government affects the rate and direction of this progress through regulation and public investment. This book presents a range of positions and perspectives on those two classes of policy mechanism, providing a succinct analysis followed by papers prepared by experts in telecommunications policy and applications.