Regulatory reform of European telecommunications: Past experience and forward-looking perspectives

European Business Organization Law Review

Volumn 2, Issue 3-4, 2001, Pages 641-655

  Knieps, Günter ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF FREIBURG   (Germany)

Author keywords

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EID: 84928995752     PISSN: 15667529     EISSN: 17416205     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S1566752900000653     Document Type: Review

References (37)

1. For a detailed explanation of this case see Schulte-Braucks, "Das 'British Telecom'-Urteil: Eckstein für ein europäisches Fernmelderecht?", 3 Wirtschaft und Wettbewerb (1986) 202-215.
2. COM (87) 290 fin.
3. Gesetz zur Neustrukturierung des Post- und Fernmeldewesens und der Deutschen Bundespost (Poststrukturgesetz) of 8 June 1989, Bundesgesetzblatt Teil I (14 June 1989) 1026-1051.
4. For the telecommunications sector, the Deutsche Telekom AG was founded.
5. COM (94) 440 fin.
6. Commission Directive 96/19/EC of 13 March 1996 amending Directive 90/388/EEC with regard to the implementation of full competition in the telecommunications markets, OJ [1996] L 74/13.
7. See for example section 2 ( 17-22) of the new German telecommunications law TKG (of 25 July 1996) as well as the Telekommunikations-Universaldienstleistungsverordnung (of 30 January 1997).
8. The literature on price-cap regulation, in contrast, has developed the concept of rate stability in order to restrain monopoly power (as a substitute for rate of return regulation); e.g. Brennan, "Regulation by 'Capping' Prices", US Department of Justice, Economic Analysis Group D.P. (1988), EAG 88, 11 September. In this context "social contract" transition methods have been outlined, for example, by Haring/Kwerel, "Competition Policy in the Post-Equal Access Market", Office of Plans and Policy of the Federal Communications Commission, O.P.P. Working Paper 22 (February 1987).
9. We are aware that, from an allocative viewpoint, cost-oriented tariffs would be superior. However, the purpose was to make the efficiency aim of free entry into telecommunications politically acceptable. Therefore redistribution considerations had to be taken into account. Cf. Blankart/Knieps, "What Can We Learn From Comparative Institutional Analysis? The Case of Telecommunications", 42/4 Kyklos (1989) 579-598.
10. Kahn, "The Future of Local Telephone Service: Technology and Public Policy", Wharton, Fishman-Davidson Center,D.P. No. 22 (1987).
11. Blankart/Knieps, supra n. 11, 592-594.
12. Council Directive 90/387/EEC of 28 June 1990 on the establishment of the internal market for telecommunications services through the implementation of open network provision, OJ [1990] L 192/1.
13. For an illustrative survey of these developments the reader is referred to European Commission: ONP COMMITTEE Subject: Revision of the ONP Framework Directive ONPCOM 95-31, Brussels (17 July 1995).
14. Similar ONP policies can also be observed in other network industries, e.g. railroads and airlines (e.g. Knieps, "Competition, coordination and cooperation - A disaggregated approach to transport regulation", 3/3 Utilities Policy (1993) 201-207).
15. Directive 97/33/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 June 1997 on interconnection in telecommunications with regard to ensuring universal service and interoperability through application of the principles of open network provision (ONP), OJ [1997] L 199/32.
16. European Commission, Notice on the application of the competition rules to access agreements in the telecommunications sector (Framework, Relevant Markets and Principles (98/C265/02), OJ [1998] C 265/2-28).
17. Cf. European Commission, Directorate General XIII ONP COMMITTEE, Subject: The 1999 Review of the Telecommunications Regulatory Framework, ONP COM 98-42, Brussels, 11 September 1998.
18. Proposal for a Directive on a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services (COM (2000) 393).
19. Proposal for a Directive on access to, and interconnection of, electronic communications networks and associated facilities (COM (2000) 384).
20. Proposal for a Directive on the authorisation of electronic communications networks and services (COM (2000) 386).
21. Proposal for a Directive on universal service and users' rights relating to electronic communications networks and services (COM (2000) 392).
22. Proposal for a Directive on the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (COM (2000) 385).
23. Regulation on unbundled access to the local loop (European Parliament and Council 2000/0185 (COD), 5 December 2000).
24. Stigler, "Barriers to Entry, Economies of Scale, and Firm Size", in: Stigler (ed.), The Organization of Industry (Irwin, Homewood, Ill. 1968) 67-70, at p. 67.
25. Cf. Baumol/ Panzar/ Willig, Contestable Markets and the Theory of Industry Structure (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, San Diego 1982).
26. Cf. Knieps/ Vogelsang, "The Sustainability Concept under Alternative Behavioral Assumptions", 13/1 Bell Journal of Economics (1982) 234-241, at p. 239.
27. E.g. Laffont/ Tirole, Competition in Telecommunications (Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England: MIT Press 2000) ch. 4.
28. E.g. Mandy, "Killing the Goose That May Have Laid the Golden Egg: Only the Data Know Whether Sabotage Pays", 17/2 Journal of Regulatory Economics (2000) 157-172.
29. E.g. Stigler, "The Theory of Economic Regulation", 2 Bell Journal of Economics (1971) 3-21; Knieps, "Costing and Pricing of Interconnection Services in a Liberalized European Telecommunications Market", in: American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (ed.), Telecommunications Reform in Germany: Lessons and Priorities (Washington D.C. 1998) 51-73.
30. E.g. Knieps, "Phasing out Sector-specific Regulation in Competitive Telecommunications", 50/3 Kyklos (1997) 325-339, at p. 331.
31. See also Shankerman, "Symmetric regulation for competitive telecommunications", 8 Information Economics and Policy (1996) 3-23, at p. 5.
32. Commission of the European Communities, supra n. 19, p. 1.
33. European Commission, supra n. 18, 2-28.
34. E.g. Beesley/ Littlechild, "The regulation of privatized monopolies in the United Kingdom", 20/3 Rand Journal of Economics (1989) 454-472.
35. Engel/ Knieps, Die Vorschriften des Telekommunikationsgesetzes über den Zugang zu wesentlichen Leistungen: Eine juristisch-ökonomische Untersuchung (Baden-Baden: Nomos 1998).
36. Cf. Distelkamp, "Möglichkeiten des Wettbewerbs im Orts- und Anschlußbereich des Telekommunikationsnetzes", WIK Diskussionsbeitrag No. 196 (Bad Honnef 1999) 94.
37. Regulierungsbehörde für Telekommunikation und Post, Jahresbericht 1999, 24.