Beyond Transparency: The Semantics of Rulemaking for an Open Internet

In trying to promote the development of an open Internet, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has primarily tried to encourage network providers to be transparent about their traffic management practices and quality of service prioritization policies. Dominant network operators have successfully challenged this minimalist approach to addressing end-user concerns about the rise of a two-tiered Internet, motivating the FCC to engage in yet another public consultation process to assess its future approach to the problem. This article maps the debate using Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools that allow us to build a systematic picture of the positions of the regulator and groups of private interests trying to shape its decisions. A quantitative linguistic analysis of the content of formal written submissions to the FCC by parties with divergent views helps document how the conceptual model of the regulator evolved during the rulemaking process leading to the FCC February 2015 network neutrality Order. Despite the adoption of a broader substantive basis by the FCC under Title II of the Communications Act, the rule-of-reason approach to substantive interpretation in the Order limits the capacity of the new regulatory framework to protect and promote an open Internet. The evidence suggests the public consultation process is likely to serve as a tool for legitimizing status quo institutional arrangements that allow operators to engage in discriminatory traffic prioritization strategies

Regulation, investment and efficiency in the transition to next generation networks: Evidence from the European Union

This article explores the impact of public policy, technological change, and the development of Internet connectivity in EU members. The analysis illustrates that the results of previous empirical literature on the interplay between regulation, competition, and investment depend on the construction of indicators employed to evaluate this interaction. Furthermore, the article points out that the traditional policy model and related empirical literature treats fixed capital inputs in networks as a measure of digital infrastructure quality/outcomes. Using broadband speed measurements between 2007 and 2012, the article addresses this gap in the literature and evaluates the determinants of digital infrastructure quality in the EU. The analysis suggests the primary driver of network quality in the medium to long term is the willingness and/or ability of operators to reinvest more of their revenues in network capacity improvements

Decentralization and confusion about the state of European telecoms: Perceptions versus reality in policy formation abroad

The implications of the experience in Europe with telecommunications policy design and broadband Internet development have become a contested area of policy debate, both in Europe and in other countries. This paper evaluates the manner in which the European experience has been characterized in telecommunications policy debates in Canada about wholesale Internet access regulations. Using broadband Internet speed measurements, we assess the empirical relevance of characterizations of Europe by private interest groups trying to shape public policy in Canada. The analysis highlights the importance of national telecom policies and operator strategies for explaining divergent paths of network development

Institutional variety and internet infrastructure development: The net and the internet: emerging markets and policies

This paper analyzes if and how the design of telecommunications regulatory institutions has influenced the evolution of Internet connectivity in approximately 100 countries between 2007 and 2014. While most advanced and developing countries have adopted policies and regulations intended to enhance private sector incentives for the provision of Internet access infrastructure, there is little consensus about the optimal design of telecommunications policies and regulations, how they should reflect differences in endowments and institutional settings across countries, or their impact on network infrastructure development. Using measurements of network connectivity speeds and cross-country institutional differences this article presents and analyzes patterns of regulatory design and their possible impact on the evolution of Internet access infrastructure capacity around the world. We find that sector specific indicators of formal rules and institutional arrangements do not vary significantly with income or indicators of the evolution of connectivity. General and sector specific indicators of perceived institutional quality are positively associated with cross-country differences in Internet connectivity speeds, but do not help explain differences in their growth rates. We further explore the implications of the apparent dichotomy between formal and perceived institutional quality for public policy and private sector participation in the development of Internet access infrastructure

Private Enforcement, Corruption, and Antitrust Design

Recent adoption of competition laws across the globe has highlighted the importance of institutional considerations for antitrust effectiveness and the need for comparative institutional analyses of antitrust that extend beyond matters of substantive law. Contributing to the resulting nascent research agenda, we examine how the rationale for enabling versus precluding private antitrust enforcement as one salient choice in antitrust design depends on whether antitrust enforcement is corruption-free or plagued by corruption. Contingent on the nature of adjudicatory bias, bribery either discourages private antitrust lawsuits or incentivizes firms to engage in frivolous litigation. Corruption expectedly reduces the effectiveness of antitrust enforcement at deterring antitrust violations. Yet private antitrust enforcement as a complement to public enforcement can be social welfare-enhancing even in the presence of corruption. Under some circumstances, corruption actually increases the relative social desirability of private antitrust enforcement. Our analysis highlights that the appropriate design of antitrust institutions is context-specific

The Rise of Broadband as an Essential Utility and Emergent Concepts in Universal Access in Advanced Economies: Perspectives from Canada

This article investigates how the transition of broadband Internet connectivity to an essential utility has influenced the development of universal access objectives and policies in Canada. In order to better understand the interplay between economic reality of broadband as an essential social and business input and the policymaking process, the article utilize Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools to map conceptual emphasis in the content of submissions by stakeholders to the telecom regulator in proceedings to review Canada’s universal access policy framework between 2009-2016. The analysis documents that increasing essentiality of broadband Internet access services as an enabler of social and economic activities makes their quality and affordability problems with general economic and policy relevance that cross the traditional conceptualization of universal access in terms of the rural-urban digital divide