Internet Traffic Exchange and the Development of end-to-end International Telecommunication Competition

The avoidance of monopoly rents and the need to ensure the continuity and quality of supply have, historically, been among the key drivers for the creation of new trade routes. In the field of telecommunications, for much of the past century, there has been little scope for achieving either of these goals. The avoidance of monopoly rents was unrealisable because most countries had legally mandated monopolies over the provision of telecommunication infrastructure. Even in those exceptional cases, where a country had opened its market to competition, monopolies continued to reign in corresponding countries. At the same time, monopolies made it difficult for one entity to guarantee service levels provided to its customers. This was because a single entity could not construct and manage their own end-to-end infrastructure across national borders.