Competition, Regulation, and Convergence Current Trends in Telecommunications Policy Research LEA Telecommunications Series

The telecommunications industry has experienced dynamic changes over the past several years, and those exciting events and developments are reflected in the chapters of this volume. The Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (TPRC) holds an unrivaled place at the center of national public policy discourse on issues in communications and information. TPRC is one of the few places where multidisciplinary discussions take place as the norm. The papers collected here represent the current state of research in telecommunication policy, and are organized around four topics: competition, regulation, universal service, and convergence.

The contentious competition issues include bundling as a strategy in software competition, combination bidding in spectrum auctions, and anticompetitive behavior in the Internet. Regulation takes up telephone number portability, decentralized regulatory decision making versus central regulatory authority, data protection, restrictions to the flow of information over the Internet, and failed Global Information Infrastructure initiatives. Universal service addresses the persistent gap in telecommunications from a socioeconomic perspective, the availability of competitive Internet access service and cost modeling. The convergence section concentrates on the costs of Internet telephony versus circuit switched telephony, the intertwined evolution of new services, new technologies, and new consumer equipment, and the politically charged question of asymmetric regulation of Internet telephony and conventional telephone service.

Contents: B.M. Compaine, J.R. Schement, Preface. I. Vogelsang, S.E. Gillett, Introduction. Part I:Competition.D.J. Aron, S.S. Wildman, Effecting a Price Squeeze Through Bundled Pricing. P. Milgrom, Combination Bidding in Spectrum Auctions. A. Briceño, Regulating Anticompetitive Behavior in the Internet Market: An Applied Imputation Model for Peru. M. Mueller, Trademarks and Domain Names: Property Rights and Institutional Evolution in Cyberspace. Part II:Regulation.P. Sringagesh, B.M. Mitchell, An Economic Analysis of Telephone Number Portability. T.J. Brennan, Promoting Telephone Competition--A Simpler Way. W. Lehr, T. Kiessling, Telecommunication Regulation in the United States and Europe: The Case for Centralized Authority. V. Mayer-Schönberger, Operator, Please Give Me Information: The European Union Directive on Data Protection in Telecommunications. L. Lessig, P. Resnick, The Architectures of Mandated Access Controls. H.E. Hudson, Beyond Infrastructure: A Critical Assessment of GII Initiatives. Part III:Universal Service.J.R. Schement, S.C. Forbes, The Persistent Gap in Telecommunications: Toward Hypothesis and Answers. T.A. Downes, S.M. Greenstein, Do Commercial ISPs Provide Universal Access? D. Gabel, S.K. Kennedy, Proxy Models and the Funding of Universal Service. Part IV:Convergence.M.B.H. Weiss, J. Hwang, Internet Telephony or Circuit Switched Telephony: Which Is Cheaper? D. Fryxell, M. Sirbu, K. Wanichkorn, An IP-Based Local Access Network: Economic and Public Policy Analysis. D.D. Clark, Implications of Local Loop Technology for Future Industry Structure. J. Weinberg, The Internet and "Telecommunications Services," Access Charges, Universal Service Mechanisms, and Other Flotsam of the Regulatory System.