Competition and Access in Telecoms: ECPR, Global Price Cap, and Auctions

Many network industries (telecommunications, electricity, natural gas, postal services, water and sewage services, etc.) are confronted with significant logistic and behavioral problems in their transition towards competition. In this article, I first recall some general principes and fundamental facts and issues before proceeding with the basic procedures through which competition can be introduced in telecommunications markets, that is the access pricing rules. I compare the efficient component pricing rule, the Ramsay pricing rule, the global price cap rule, and show how the latter could in fact be an answer to many of the concerns and questions raised in the search for an efficient way to introduce competition in telecommunications markets. I then continue by presenting some recent research on network access auctions, a possible approach to increasing competition with soft or light-handed regulation. I then conclude by raising some neglected albeit important issues.
[ - ]
[ + ]