Description
As in many other industries, regulators of the telecommunications industry have aimed to bring affordable products and services to the general public, while at the same time allowing participating companies to make adequate profits.
Over the last few years, there has been a step change in digital communications, which have had a dramatic effect on the way people live their lives and conduct business. Broadband technologies are becoming the base upon which people and IT systems are enabled to communicate electronically ubiquitously, rapidly and cheaply, resulting in a high level of innovation and a wide range of economic and social benefits.
Regulation is fundamental to the realization of the networked economy, as it plays a central role in setting a vision for the evolution of the telecoms market including, crucially, the types of market structure that will emerge. This is particularly the case with broadband telecoms, as first, in these early stages of deployment, the market needs structures that encourage the widest availability of cheap broadband as rapidly as possible, and second, market structures determine the extent of innovation within the telecoms industry itself, for example in applications and services, a key ingredient in achieving the networked economy.
As the EU and USA consider new regulatory approaches to electronic communications, this course explains what the new legislation means for the evolution of the telecoms industry, both now and in the future. The course aims to question some aspects of conventional regulatory approaches, on the grounds that they risk losing some of the full benefits of the networked economy, and considers the big regulatory challenges that lie ahead.
The course makes some important contributions in the area of our economic understanding of the empirical results global telecommunications markets.
Objectives
Upon completion of this course, the attendees will have a good understanding of:
- Telecom Act of 1996
- Role of ILECs/IXCs/Wireless Operators/Cable MSOs/CLECs
- Broadcasting and Cable Regulations
- Digital Terrestrial Television Regulations
- Interconnection Issues
- Internet Regulations
- Local Loop Unbundling Regulations
- VoIP Regulations
- What the economic benefits of the networked economy are
- What the regulators' role is in developing market structures that ensure the full benefits of broadband are delivered
- What the key aims of regulation in the networked economy are
- How well suited new regulation in the EU and the USA is to supporting the necessary broadband market structures and to achieving innovation in infrastructure, services and applications
- What the new legislation mean for the longer-term development of the networked economy
- What issues will future regulatory reviews need to address
Course Outline
Who Should Attend
- Regulators and policymakers: understand the limitations of ‘legacy regulation' for broadband telecoms and how regulation will need to evolve to maximize innovation in infrastructure, services and applications
- Operators and service providers: gain insight into the economics of broadband supply and the issues associated with developing a viable business model for broadband, and identify how regulation now and in the future could influence your business plans
- Equipment vendors: learn how regulatory change will affect the markets you supply, in terms of the deployment of broadband, the range of services to be offered and the demand from end customers
- Legal agencies, firms and consultancies: understand how new telecoms regulation will affect your clients and identify the key issues they will need to address
- Managers and team members in cross-functional organizations, Technology Planners, Telecom Planners, Strategic Planners, Information Systems/Technology Managers, Local exchange carriers, CLECs,Interexchange carriers, Internet service providers, Telecom equipment manufacturers, Regulatory personnel, Depreciation professionals who need basic overview of U.S. telecom regulation.
Prerequisites