If one were to believe the politicians and pundits in the trade press,the world is in midst of a “telecoms revolution,” resulting from (the) deregulation and new competitive opportunities represented by the 1997 World Trade Organisation Agreement on Basic Telecommunications Services. This may be true.
Unfortunately, however, the actions of many regulators and industry participants more accurately reveal not a telecoms “revolution” but instead a growing telecoms trade war that is dangerously close to spiralling out of hand. In this book, Naftel and Spiwak review U.S. and European competition and regulatory initiatives post-WTO and provide both a useful roadmap to today’s U.S., EU and WTO telecoms regulation and an examination of various case studies to illustrate their points.
In so doing, the authors discover unfortunately the sad reality that, despite the political rhetoric, regulators on both sides of the Atlantic have eschewed innovative and indeed productive solutions to create a market structure conducive to long-term competitive rivalry.
Instead, the authors demonstrate that current policies reveal a growing cynicism towards the maximisation of consumer welfare that will be difficult - if not outright impossible- to remove.
By:
Lawrence J Spiwak,
Mark Naftel
Imprint: Hart Publishing
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
Spine: 40mm
Weight: 893g
ISBN: 9781841130149
ISBN 10: 1841130141
Pages: 512
Publication Date: 15 January 2001
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
,
A / AS level
,
Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
PART I: ANALYTICAL AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK CHAPTER 1: Telecoms Policy for the New Millennium CHAPTER 2: Why Restructure? CHAPTER 3: Analytical Framework CHAPTER 4: Evaluating Competition in a Post-WTO World CHAPTER 5: The WTO and the Reference Paper: An Ostensible Blueprint for Entry PART II: US EFFORTS TO PROMOTE TELECOMS COMPETITION CHAPTER 6: From International Competitive Carrier Paradigm to Effective Competitive Opportunities: The FCC’s International Policies Pre-WTO CHAPTER 7: US Policies Post-WTO Part I—Benchmarks and Entry Fees CHAPTER 8: US Policies Post-WTO Part 2—The Naked Politicisation of the American Legal System CHAPTER 9: “Do As I Say, Not As I Do”—US Efforts at Promoting Local Telecoms Competition PART III: EUROPEAN EFFORTS TO PROMOTE TELECOMS COMPETITION CHAPTER 10: EU Foundations, Institutions and Policies CHAPTER 11: Europe’s First Steps Towards Telecoms Competition CHAPTER 12: Does the EU Regulatory Framework Work in the Market? CHAPTER 13: The EU Approach to the Internet and Data Protection CHAPTER 14: The EU’s 1999 Telecommunications Review PART IV: CASE STUDIES IN REGULATORY CYNICISM CHAPTER 15: Case Study: Comparing the US and EU Approaches to Universal Service CHAPTER 16: Case Study: FCC’s International Spectrum Policies CHAPTER 17: Case Study: International Submarine Cable Landing Petitions CHAPTER 18: Case Study: International Mergers and Global Alliances CHAPTER 19: Conclusion: O Shame! Where is Thy Blush? APPENDIX: The FCC’s Competitive Carrier Paradigm
Mark Naftel is a telecommunications lawyer and Partner at Norton Rose Solicitors,London. He is also an Adjunct Fellow of the Phoenix Centre. Lawrence J Spiwak is the President of the Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal and Economic Public Policy Studies in Washington, DC. He is an internationally recognized authority on the legal and economic issues affecting telecommunications.
Reviews for The Telecoms Trade War: The United States, the European Union and the World Trade Organisation
!they convincingly show that the growing telecoms trade war is to be taken seriously. the book is to be recommended to everyone with an interest in the field. Wilfred A M Steenbruggen Digital Technology Law Journal March 2001 The Telecoms Trade War is a welcome addition to the telecom literature, if for no other reason than it challenges the conventional wisdom with evidence and analysis that go substantially deeper than the mantra recitations that have come to dominate both policy analysis and academic research on liberalization.This is the first detailed study in the modern era of telecom reform focusing on regulatory capture for the primary purpose of assisting dominant home operators in international and foreign markets. William H. Melody TelecomReform June 2002
