The purpose of this article is to inform users, regulators, and economists about the basic economics of the Internet, focusing on regulation of its infrastructure. It defines the Internet and describes its development and organization. It analyses the regulatory and competition issues associated...

By any measure, the communication sector is important. It is no surprise, then, that the communication sector has attracted the attention of both policy-makers and economists. In this paper, we argue that four characteristics of the networks that deliver communication services make this area of...

Since the liberalization of European telecommunications markets, regulators at European and national level have been relatively successful in forcing down the price of access to the historic monopolists' fixed network. This has led, however, to the development primarily of 'service competition'...

The replacement of copper telecommunications networks by fibre-based next-generation networks (NGN) capable of providing high-speed broadband services requires substantial investment and a regulatory regime designed to encourage it. The paper identifies which technologies are capable of...

In a formerly monopolized industry now subject to competition, there is likely to be considerable interaction between business strategy and regulation. The paper illustrates the development of this process in UK telecommunications. It sets out a framework in which competition between incumbent...