Mạng và viễn thông P44

Network Regulation and DeregulationSincethe 1980s, governmentsinhotpursuitofgeneraleconomicdevelopmenthavemade dramatic changes in the regulation industry. Monopolistic public utilities have been privatized, of and the markets historically dominated by those utilities have been deregulated and opened to competition. This chapter discusses the motivations behind telecommunications deregulation, and explains some of the new regulatory measures which protect customers’ interests by ensuring that quality services are available at a fair price....
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Mạng và viễn thông P44 Networks and Telecommunications: Design and Operation, Second Edition. Martin P. Clark Copyright © 1991, 1997 John Wiley & Sons Ltd ISBNs: 0-471-97346-7 (Hardback); 0-470-84158-3 (Electronic) Network Regulation and Deregulation Sincethe 1980s, governmentsinhotpursuitofgeneraleconomicdevelopmenthavemade dramatic changes in the regulation industry. Monopolistic public utilities have been privatized, of and the markets historically dominated by those utilities have been deregulated and opened to competition. This chapter discusses the motivations behind telecommunications deregulation, and explains some of the new regulatory measures which protect customers’ interests by ensuring that quality services are available at a fair price.44.1 REASONS FOR DEREGULATION The word deregulation is something of a misnomer because no country has completely rescinded all the telecommunications laws and regulations. Rather, the regulations are beingchangedto a new framework(a liberalized one) to encouragecompetition between companies for the provision of telecommunications services. In fact the new regulations are more voluminous than the old ones, and will require more policing to ensure that companies are conforming with their obligations. As with any change in the legal system, a government wants to convince itself of the benefit of the new regulation; not only its direct effect but also the secondary effect on other elements of the social or industrial strata. The government will wish to ensure maximum efficiency of overall resources, but it will also be interested in the fairness a of new system. In addition, from an economic sense, the impact on the country’s balance of trade will be important. The European Economic Community, EEC (nowadays called the EuropeanUnion, E U ) noted in 1986 that: ‘the strengthening of European telecommunications has become one of themajor conditions f o r promoting a harmonious development of economic activities a andcompetitivemarket throughout [European] the community and for achievingthecompletionofthe community-widemarket for [all]goodsandservices by 1992’. 793794 REGULATION NETWORK AND DEREGULATION As a result, the EuropeanCommission (the ‘government’of the EEC)set about estab- lishing a European-wide network infrastructure comprising common network standards and a more open competitive market for telecommunications terminals and services. The pressure for reform had been building in countries worldwide for many years, but different governments responded at different speeds and in different ways. The United States led the way in the process of deregulation. As early as 1967, a small company called MicrowaveCommunication Znc ( M C Z ) lodged the with US government’s Federal CommunicationsCommission (FCC) an application toruna common carrier (transmissioncircuit) service betweenChicago and StLouis. The proposed quality of the service was lower than that available leased circuit service of the using the established large (and licensed) carriers, a market dominated by the American Telephone and Telegraph ( A T & T ) company and theBell Operating Companies ( B O G ) . The ‘back-up’ fortheMC1 service was to beminimal,andno subscriberterminal equipment was to be provided (allowing the customer to connect almost anything, as desired), but the benefit was a significantly lower price, being only half the cost of the established service. Encouraged by thesignificantlydifferent nature of the service, and hopeful that competition would stimulate new activity from previously untapped markets, the FCC gave approval for the service in 1969, and went on a year later virtually to force the established common carriers to provideinterconnectionfacilities. A flood of other aspirantca ...