Research Areas
Telecoms Regulatory Resources
Introduction
Regulatory intervention in the telecommunications sector has always been important. This role is vital in the Internet era, due to the new emerging technologies that pose new challenges for the traditional regulatory framework. The deregulation of telecoms is an issue that will continue to be of great importance in the coming years. New sectors in the telecommunications market have emerged. Others by taking advantage of radical technologies have expanded to other sectors, while the role of the traditional PTTs is revisited. New regulatory authorities have been established that restructure the market structure in this new telecommunications era, in order to ensure free and fair competition in the national telecommunication markets and advanced cheap network services for the citizens.
Selected References
Selected references to some of the most challenging topics of telecoms regulation are provided below.
Digital Signatures
The need for secure authentication and identification of users is crucial for e-commerce applications. To this end, digital signature seems to be the proper means of copying with the various user authentication related problems. This new technology and its impact on e-trade has important technological, legislative and regulatory implications.
References
Secondary spectrum markets
Secondary markets in spectrum rights are proposed as a means of satisfying the increasing customer demand for scarse (wireless) bandwidth and a way of attaining economic efficiency. Resale of licences in secondary markets may be prohibited due to older regulatory decisions regarding the terms of allocation of spectrum licenses. Several means of trade have been proposed for these markets, including negotiations and auctions.
References
- Secondary Spectrum Markets in Europe May 10, 2001 Raymond A. Linsenmayer The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy MALD Thesis
- Spectrum allocation and the Internet
- Comments of economists for efficient spectrum usage via secondary markets
- Spectrum Trading
- FCC Policy Statement, Principles for Promoting the Efficient Use of Spectrum by Encouraging the Development of Sevondary Markets
- New Zeland spectrum management
- FCC Discusses Secondary Markets for Wireless Spectrum
- Practical steps to spectrum markets
- NTIA on secondary markets
- FCC Secondary Markets Order
- Spectrum in a bottle
Voice Over IP
Voice over IP enables the provision of voice services from IP networks. Provision of voice services had been an exclusive market for traditional PSTN carriers for decades. The IP packet switching networks and the Voice Over IP (VoIP) technology has changed that, creating new market opportunities and business models. At the same time, this new reality calls for regulatory changes so that market competition is perserved and customers enjoy voice services for a reasonable cost.
References
- The Evolution of International Internet Telephony
- SIP
- Cisco's overview of SIP
- The essential guide to VoIP implementation and management
- FCC and VoIP
- FCC's VoIP forum
- VoIP in USA
- Assessment of VoIP service availability in the current Internet
- Deconstruction Of The Telecommunications Industry: From Value Chains to Value Networks
- Evolution of the the Telecommunications Industry into the Internet age
3G networks spectrum allocation
3G networks promise the provision of wireless broadband services to their customers. The UMTS and WCDMA standards require specific frequencies of the wireless spectrum in order to provide these broadband services. Due to the scarcity of the spectrum, in order to allocate the available spectrum efficiently, regulators have adopted innovative trading mechanisms, mostly auctions. In US, spectrum reallocation is also taken under consideration as a means of providing broadband 3G services.
References
- ITU Regulatory Resources on 3G Spectrum Allocation
- Regulatory Resources on 3G Mobile Licensing
- Jehiel on European UMTS auctions
- Klemperer on European 3G auctions
- FCC auctions
- Peter Cramton's auction papers library
- 3G Newsroom
- The Battle for 3G Spectrum
- 3G newsroom
- UMTS World
- Who gets the 3G spectrum?
- 3GPP
WLANs, spectrum usage and regulation
Wireless network carriers have traditionally been obliged to buy spectrum licences in order to provide services to customers by exploiting a specific part of the wireless spectrum under strict rules. The evolution of wireless local access networks (WLANs) - HyperLan and mainly 802.11 technologies - changes this requirement since the frequencies used are those of the unlicensed ISM band. This enables new business models and the creation of Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs) that provide wireless access to their customers over unreserved spectrum. This new technology constitutes an open issue for regulation worldwide.
References
- WLAN Association
- WISPs Association
- FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau
- Amateur Regulation
- FCC makes more spectrum available
- Whose problem is WLAN interface?
- WLAN regulation article
- Policy on WLANs
- Identification and Classification of Business Models for WISPs and NANs
- Public Wi-Fi business models
- Public WLANs -- A Business-Model Challenge for Wi-Fi
- WLANs business models
- WLAN links page
Broadband
Broadband services are an extremely important sector of the telecoms industry. The different regulatory frameworks of various countries have a great impact on customer charge, adoption of new technologies (optical, fiber) and market penetration.
References
- FCC on Last mile platforms
- Oftel's report on Broadband regulation
- FCC Broadband
- Understanding the impact of convergence on broadband industry regulation: case study of the United States
- Oftel's Regulatory Strategy for Broadband
- Cable Internet Service Wins Before Supreme Court: Ruling leaves power to set rental rates for poles in the hands of the FCC.
- FCC Cable Ruling Challenged(March 26,2002)
- Australian broadband report
- Birth of a Broadband Powerhouse
- European vs US regulation
Universal Service
The concept of universal service has traditionally referred to the goal that all citizens must have easy access to affordable telephone service. As the concept of an information society has emerged, the concept of Universal Service has broadened to include access to information services. Due to the increasingly important role of electronic business, communication, and research, access to the computers and communications networks is considered my most regulators to be as important as access to traditional telephone services. Thus, it is important to construct a regulatory framework that should enable schoolos, libraries, communities and citizens to become active members of the information society.
References
- Oftel's page on Reforming Universal Service
- NTIA's Guide for Users on Universal Service
- Trends in Universal Service and Access, NTIA presentation
- NTIA's Report on Universal Service: "Falling Through the Net"
- FCC on UniversalAccess
- FCC's Universal Service page
- Telecommunications Regulation Handbook: Universal Access
Number Portability
Telephone number portability is a service that enables telephone customers to retain, at the same location, their existing local telephone numbers when migrating from one local telephone service provider to another. Number portability diminishes a major barrier to competition, which was the inability of customers to switch from one telephone company to another while retaining the same telephone number. Most countries' regulators have imposed telephone number portability.
References
- Number portability: news and links
- Oftel's Statement on the Relationship between Interconnection Charges and Retail Prices for Number Translation Services
- Oftel's Numbering Portablity Requirements Directive
- ACCC on Local Number Portability
- ACCC on Mobile Number Portability
Energy market reform
There is a worldwide market restructure in the energy sector in order to create large competitive markets where electric power should be trased as a commodity even in short time scales.Moreover, EU is promoting the interconnection of the major electric power transport networks in Europe. This market restructure imposes severe regulatory challenges in order to create a competitive market in the areas of energy production, resale and transport.
References
- The Greek market reforms (in Greek only)
- Peter Cramton's links
- TSO auction website
- RTE-France
- National Grid
- UK spot market
Related Sites
- EU's Telecoms Regulatory Framework: EU's new regulatory framework for electronic communications infrastructure and associated services
- Regulator Directory: Telecoms regulators of the world
- Open Directory: Telecommunications Regulatory Agencies:Regulatory agencies around the world
- Telecoms regulation in UK: Major telecoms ragulatory issues
- Telecoms Regulation in Germany: Extensive excellent list of regulatory issues and their status in Germany
- FCC: US Federal Communications Comission, Wireline Competition Bureau
- Ofcom: The new regulator in UK
- ΕΕΤΤ: The Greek telecoms regulator