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Regulating next‐generation fixed access to telecommunications services

David Lewin (Based at Plum Consulting, London, UK)
Brian Williamson (Based at Plum Consulting, London, UKB)
Martin Cave (Based at Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, UK)

info

ISSN: 1463-6697

Article publication date: 26 June 2009

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Abstract

Purpose

What rules, if any, should regulators put in place to provide incentives for timely and efficient investment in next generation fibre access networks (NGA) while, at the same time, preventing monopoly abuse, either by taking monopoly rents from end users or harming downstream competition? This paper aims to focus on these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The findings in this paper are based on review of existing work in the area and on interviews with 25 operators and regulators across the European Union.

Findings

Active (bitstream) remedies will be important for preserving competition in the supply of retail, NGA‐based, products. Regulators should specify the price regulation principles, which would apply to operators found to have significant market power (SMP) in NGA supply in advance of any market definition and SMP assessment. Regulators should allow access providers to provide distinct NGA‐based bitstream products to meet the needs of different segments of the end‐user market and to then charge for these products at the wholesale level so as to reflect their value to end users rather than their costs.

Originality/value

This paper is designed to simulate general debate on the best way to regulate NGA

Keywords

Citation

Lewin, D., Williamson, B. and Cave, M. (2009), "Regulating next‐generation fixed access to telecommunications services", info, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 3-18. https://doi.org/10.1108/14636690910970946

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2009, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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