International benchmarking of Australian telecommunications services

The study compares the performance of the Australian telecommunications services industry with those in other countries. Related papers submitted to this study by NECG Ltd. and Telecom New Zealand have been released with the report.international benchmarking - telecommunications - Telstra - carriers - service providers - social policy - retail price regulation - Universal Service Obligation - competition - regulation - access - number portability - accounting separation - anti-competitive behaviour - Public Switched Telephone Network - ISDN - mobile - residential price - business price - phone - SMEs - quality of service - performance indicators - productivity

Market Definition and the Economic Effects of Special Access Price Regulation

Market definition is an essential ingredient to competitive and regulatory analysis. Yet, there is significant disparity regarding the definition of the relevant geographic market for high-capacity circuits, commonly referred to as Special Access services. Given the present debate over expanding price regulation in this sector, the importance of market definition on the expected economic effects of regulation is worth evaluating. In this article, we demonstrate that if geographic markets are “location specific” and supplied by a monopolist as the proponents of regulation claim, then price regulation reduces economic welfare in all instances. That is, even with monopoly supply, regulation offers no improvement in economic welfare, meaning the debates over the extent of competition and profit margins in such markets are irrelevant. The effect of regulation is mostly to transfer profits from sellers to buyers, so the debate appears to be largely a squabble over rents. That said, every $1 of transfer costs more than$1 to society, so regulation reduces welfare. This analysis demonstrates that the present case for regulating high-capacity services is woefully inadequate and poorly conceived

Market Definition and the Economic Effects of Special Access Price Regulation

Market definition is an essential ingredient to competitive and regulatory analysis. Yet, there is significant disparity regarding the definition of the relevant geographic market for high-capacity circuits, commonly referred to as Special Access services. Given the present debate over expanding price regulation in this sector, the importance of market definition on the expected economic effects of regulation is worth evaluating. In this article, we demonstrate that if geographic markets are “location specific” and supplied by a monopolist as the proponents of regulation claim, then price regulation reduces economic welfare in all instances. That is, even with monopoly supply, regulation offers no improvement in economic welfare, meaning the debates over the extent of competition and profit margins in such markets are irrelevant. The effect of regulation is mostly to transfer profits from sellers to buyers, so the debate appears to be largely a squabble over rents. That said, every $1 of transfer costs more than$1 to society, so regulation reduces welfare. This analysis demonstrates that the present case for regulating high-capacity services is woefully inadequate and poorly conceived

An Evaluation of the Proposals in the FCC\u27s Intercarrier Compensation Reform Docket Related to Tandem Transit Services

As part of its Intercarrier Compensation Reform Docket, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has received many proposals advocating for the adoption of regulations relating to tandem transit services. As transiting affects virtually every carrier in the telecommunications industry, including traditional CLECs, cable telephony providers, wireless carriers, and even traditional ILECs, the industry is sharply divided over which, if any, of those proposals should be adopted. This Article provides an in-depth look at the issues dividing the industry, and the various proposals before the FCC. The Authors then hypothesize that the FCC should follow the lead of several state commissions who have addressed this exact issue and adopt a nationwide policy that would facilitate the continued growth of competition in the tandem transiting market, as this result would best serve consumers, telecommunications providers, and the industry as a whole

Deregulation of Telephone Services in Ohio

Part I reviews the market changes that exist and which, in part, drive the regulatory changes and have emerged because of them. Parts II and III establish the basic regulatory schemes that existed prior and subsequent to divestiture and deregulation at the federal level. Part IV sets out the Ohio regulatory structure which previously controlled the actions of the Ohio commission. Parts V and VI then address the response of the Ohio commission and supreme court to the changes at the federal level and note some potential institutional barriers to deregulation. Part VII introduces the legislative response to deregulation, House Bill 563. Part VIII then suggests how the commission may use the economic model on which deregulation and divestiture are based and suggests some concerns drawn from antitrust and regulatory literature about developing effective regulatory oversight of the monopoly and competitive portions of the Ohio telecommunications market

A Study of Effective Regulation Model in Privatizing the Public Enterprises

The privatization deems to be an important policy towards to the solutions of public ownership faults. However, the privatizing a monopoly industry could not damage the consumers’ interests inevitably. Thus, it is necessary to introduce the government regulation towards to the privatized monopoly industry. The premises of the privatization combined with regulation model are: controlling the privatization of a monopoly industry shall increase the efficiency, improved service quality and lower the costs to consumers. The method for this research is to review existing literature and study the regulations and the regulation in the developed nations comparing their variations and to find out the most efficient regulation models to design or amend for other nations. The objective of this study is to study the privatization experiences from the existing nations and convert to those nations may need for reference. At the end, this paper also found that the effective regulation model may not only bring down the costs of the public services, but also improved the efficiency to a near market competition standard

Indo-US FTA: Prospects for the Telecommunication Sector

Since telecommunication is one of the main drivers of economic growth and globalization, WTO (World Trade Organization) negotiations and New Age FTAs (Free Trade Agreements) have focused on liberalizing trade in this sector. The present paper analyses the possibilities of liberalizing trade in telecommunication services if India and its largest trading partner-the US-enter into a bilateral agreement. The study found that India and the US have trade complementarities in telecommunication services and that it should be a priority sector in the FTA negotiations. The study identified certain areas such as R&D related to telecommunication and broadband infrastructure where collaboration between companies of both countries would be mutually beneficial. The study found that telecommunication services have been significantly liberalized in the US FTAs-much beyond the scope of the GATS and the Reference Paper on Basic Telecommunications. While the current policy regime in India is consistent with some of the requests made by the US in its bilateral negotiations, for meeting others, the policy regime needs to be examined and, if required, reformed. The present paper suggests certain reforms which would enhance the productivity, efficiency and global competitiveness of the sector and enable the country to benefit from the bilateral liberalization.Indo-US FTA, GATS, bilateral agreements, telecommunication, services