Investment and Regulation in Telecommunications

• Authors: Stanisław Piątek
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This article presents the difficulties associated with the implementation of the regulatory goal of promoting investment and innovation within the area of sector specific regulation in telecoms. The encouragement of efficient investment is one of the major goals reflected in the EC and domestic legal rules on telecoms access as well as price- and rate of return regulation. The law and the interplay of the interests of incumbents and alternative operators create a fertile soil for the emergence of various regulatory concepts of stimulating investment and facility-based competition. Considered here are the concepts most frequently referred to in this context including: the notion of new and emerging markets, the ladder of investment theory, sunset clauses and dynamic pricing policies. However, most of these concepts had little influence on regulatory practice so far, seeing as telecoms regulation is mostly directed at service competition and effective utilisation of existing infrastructures. This fact is the result of national regulators balancing their various regulatory goals in the existing technical and economic environment of the sector. The approach of the Polish regulatory authority towards these concepts constitutes an example of this reality. The urgent need to establish a new policy for next generation networks and access, bringing new technologies and business models to the sector, will have to induce more recognition for some concepts presented in this article.

Keywords

EN

telecommunication; regulation; investment; regulatory holidays; ladder of investment; sunset clause; price regulation; telecommunications access

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Warszawski. Wydział Nauk Ekonomicznych
• Journal: Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies
• Year: 2008
• Volume: 1(1)
• Pages: 109-129

Dates

published

2008-12-01

Contributors

author

Stanisław Piątek

• Department of Public Economic Law, Faculty of Management, University of Warsaw

References

• Baake P., Kamecke U., Wey Ch., “A Regulatory Framework for New and Emerging Markets” (2005) 60(4) Communications & Strategies.
• Cave M., “Encouraging infrastructure competition via the ladder of investment” (2006) 30 Telecommunications Policy.
• Cave M., Making the ladder of investment operational, available at: http://www.ictregulationtoolkit.org/en/Publication.2916.html
• Cave M., Vogelsang I., “How Access Pricing and Entry Interact” (2003) 27 Telecommunications Policy.
• Chou Y., Liu K-Ch., “Paradoxical impact of asymmetric regulation in Taiwan’s telecommunications industry: Restriction and rent seeking” (2006) 30 Telecommunications Policy.
• Flacher D. , Jennequin H. , Lorenzi J.-H., “Innovation, Investment and Regulation: What are the Options for Regulation in the Near Future?” (2006) 64(4) Communications & Strategies.
• Gans J. S. , King S.P., “Access Holidays and the Timing of Infrastructure Investment” (2002) 14 Melbourne Business School Working Paper, available at: www.mbs.edu/home/jgans/research.htm.
• Hausmann J. A., Sidak J. G., “Did mandatory unbundling achieve its purpose? Empirical evidence from five countries” (2005) 1(1) Journal of Competition Law and Economics.
• Kamiński F., “Oddziaływanie regulacji konkurencji na nowe inwestycje oraz strukturę rynku komunikacji elektronicznej” [“Impact of competition regulation on new investment and
• market structure of electronic Communications”] (2006) 2-4 Telekomunikacja i Techniki Informacyjne.
• Streel A., A New Regulatory Paradigm for European Electronic Communications: On the Fallacy of the ‘Less Regulation’ Rhetoric, ITS-Europe Regional Conference, Berlin, September 2004.