This book is based on the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference which reports on research into telecommunications policy issues. While the conference is now a respectable 23 years old, this is only the second printed edition of selected papers. A new law, the Telecommunications Act of 1996, accelerated the process of integration in the communication industry and made major revisions to the Communications Act of 1934 that increase the incentive for integration within the industry. Although the papers in this volume were written prior to the passage of the new law, their importance is merely enhanced by it. They deal with fundamental, complex policy problems that arise when previously separate segments of the telecommunications industry are integrated, rather than specific regulatory rules that are likely to be changed under the new law. With the passage of this law, the timeframe for developing appropriate policies for an integrated industry has been shortened. Changes expected to occur over a period of several years will now likely occur much more rapidly. These papers provide insights to help guide the transition in the industry.
Divided into five parts, this volume:
* deals with problems of transforming local exchange telephone service from a monopoly in each geographical area to an interconnected competitive network of networks,
* considers the pricing problems that arise in an integrated network carrying traffic of different types across multiple service providers,
* examines the problem of achieving interoperability in complex networks,
* considers issues of intellectual property that arise in expected integrated networks of the future, and
* discusses electronic publication of scholarly journals, copyright protection, and the applicability of copyright law in the digital age.

Providing an authoritative perspective on the best current research regarding telecommunication policy, this book is based on the 22nd Annual Telecommunications Policy Research Conference. The papers focus on the critical policy issues created by increasing competition in the industry. The book contains a careful analysis of local competition and interconnection, international competition, universal service issues, the Internet and emerging new methods of communication, and the first amendment problems created by changing telecommunication technology.
It brings together -- in a convenient form -- a wide range of important scholarship on telecommunication policy that otherwise would require extensive research into a variety of journals, government filings, and unpublished papers.

This book is based on the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference which reports on research into telecommunications policy issues. While the conference is now a respectable 23 years old, this is only the second printed edition of selected papers. A new law, the Telecommunications Act of 1996, accelerated the process of integration in the communication industry and made major revisions to the Communications Act of 1934 that increase the incentive for integration within the industry. Although the papers in this volume were written prior to the passage of the new law, their importance is merely enhanced by it. They deal with fundamental, complex policy problems that arise when previously separate segments of the telecommunications industry are integrated, rather than specific regulatory rules that are likely to be changed under the new law. With the passage of this law, the timeframe for developing appropriate policies for an integrated industry has been shortened. Changes expected to occur over a period of several years will now likely occur much more rapidly. These papers provide insights to help guide the transition in the industry.
Divided into five parts, this volume:
* deals with problems of transforming local exchange telephone service from a monopoly in each geographical area to an interconnected competitive network of networks,
* considers the pricing problems that arise in an integrated network carrying traffic of different types across multiple service providers,
* examines the problem of achieving interoperability in complex networks,
* considers issues of intellectual property that arise in expected integrated networks of the future, and
* discusses electronic publication of scholarly journals, copyright protection, and the applicability of copyright law in the digital age.

Thanks to inexpensive computers and data communications, the speed and volume of human communication are exponentially greater than they were even a quarter-century ago. Not since the advent of the telephone and telegraph in the nineteenth century has information technology changed daily life so radically. We are in the midst of what Gerald Brock calls a second information revolution.

Brock traces the complex history of this revolution, from its roots in World War II through the bursting bubble of the Internet economy. As he explains, the revolution sprang from an interdependent series of technological advances, entrepreneurial innovations, and changes to public policy. Innovations in radar, computers, and electronic components for defense projects translated into rapid expansion in the private sector, but some opportunities were blocked by regulatory policies. The contentious political effort to accommodate new technology while protecting beneficiaries of the earlier regulated monopoly eventually resulted in a regulatory structure that facilitated the explosive growth in data communications. Brock synthesizes these complex factors into a readable economic history of the wholesale transformation of the way we exchange and process information.

Will the rush of the information super-highway leave U.S. telecommunication policy in the dust - or will our policy keep pace with and effectively regulate the future of telecommunication? Former FCC Bureau Chief Gerald Brock argues that the existing agencies with overlapping responsibilities can set policies that will wisely steer the telecommunication industry through the high-speed changes just around the corner. Brock develops a new theory of decentralized public decision-making and uses it to clarify the dramatic changes that have transformed the industry from a heavily regulated monopoly to a set of market-oriented finds. In a uniquely authoritative, up-to-date history of telecommunication policy - informed in part by his firsthand experience - the author looks at decisions made by the FCC, state regulatory agencies, the Department of Justice, Congress, and federal courts. He demonstrates how the decentralized decision-making process - whose apparent element of chaos has so often invited criticism - has actually made the United States a world leader in reforming telecommunication policy. Brock traces the flow of information through the bureaucratic web that regulated the divestiture and earlier transitions, such as the first monopoly-eroding attachment of terminal equipment and the development of private microwave systems. Throughout his analysis, Brock convincingly shows that decentralized policymaking generates rational outcomes consistent with public preferences. Replete with details on the role of subsidies in influencing policy, and including in-depth analysis of events after the divestiture, this study could regenerate U.S. policymaking in telecommunication and other publicrealms. It will be essential reading for everyone interested in the current debate over President Clinton's proposals concerning the information infrastructure, for all architects of public policy, and for those who study it.