Digital Crossroads: American Telecommunications Policy In The Internet Age (Google eBook)

JONATHAN E AUTOR NUECHTERLEIN

MIT Press, 2005 - Business & Economics - 670 pages

With a new preface for the paperback editionTelecommunications policy profoundlyaffects the economy and our everyday lives. Yet accounts of important telecommunications issues tendto be either superficial (and inaccurate) or mired in jargon and technical esoterica. In DigitalCrossroads, Jonathan Nuechterlein and Philip Weiser offer a clear, balanced, and accessible analysisof competition policy issues in the telecommunications industry. After giving a big picture overviewof the field, they present sharply reasoned analyses of the major technological, economic, and legaldevelopments confronting communications policymakers in the twenty-first century.Since the passageof the Telecommunications Act of 1996, when Congress fundamentally reoriented the existingregulatory scheme, no book has cogently explained the intricacies of telecommunications competitionpolicy in the Internet age for general readers, students, and practitioners alike. DigitalCrossroads meets this need, focusing on the regulatory dimensions of competition in wireline andwireless telephone service; competition among rival platforms for broadband Internet service andvideo distribution; and the Internet's transformation of every aspect of the telecommunicationsindustry, particularly through the emergence of "voice over Internet protocol" (VoIP). The authorsexplain not just the complicated legal issues governing the industry, but also the rapidly changingtechnological and economic context in which these issues arise. The book includes extensive endnotesand tables that cover relevant court decisions, FCC orders, and academic commentaries; a glossary ofacronyms; a statutory addendum containing the most important provisions of federaltelecommunications law; and two appendixes with information on more specialized topics.Supplementary materials for students are available athttp://spot.colorado.edu/~weiserpj.

What people are saying

Review: Digital Crossroads: American Telecommunications Policy in the Internet Age

User Review  - Paul Recanzone - Goodreads

Is it right that anyone should be so fascinated with telecommunications policy that each page should provide multiple opportunities to pause and consider the ramifications of the author's words?

Contents

• The Big Picture: 1
• I Economic Principles: 3
• A Network effects and interconnection: 4
• B Economies of scale and density: 10
• C Monopoly leveraging and the concept of information platforms: 16
• II Convergence: 23
• Introduction to Wireline Telecommunications: 31
• I A Primer on Wireline Technology: 32
• loops and transport: 33
• The fiber glut: 36
• Regulatory distinctions among transmission pipes: 38
• B Switches: 39
• Circuit switches: 40
• Packet switches: 42
• II Traditional Telephone Rate Regulation: 45
• The regulatory compact: 46
• Dual jurisdiction: 47
• Access charges: 49
• Tariffs: 50
• Price caps: 51
• B Introduction to universal service policies: 52
• III Wireline Competition Policy Before 1996: 55
• A Telecommunications equipment manufacturing: 57
• B Long distance competition and the ATT consent decree: 60
• C Competitive access services: 64
• D The first steps towards local exchange competition: 66
• Wireline Competition Under the 1996 Act: 69
• II The Wireline Competition Provisions: 74
• A A taxonomy of carriers and services: 76
• interconnection and collocation: 79
• network elements and resale: 80
• Reselling an incumbents retail services: 84
• D Procedures for implementing the local competition provisions: 85
• section 271: 88
• III UNEs and the Impairment Standard: 91
• A Network element entry strategies: 92
• B The rise and fall of UNEP: 98
• The early terms of the UNEP debate: 99
• The Triennial Review Order and USTA II: 102
• The aftermath of USTA II: 105
• C Looptransport combinations: 108
• A Primer on Internet Technology: 115
• B Modularity and layering: 118
• C The logic of the Internet: 121
• D Email and the World Wide Web: 125
• II The Internets Physical Infrastructure: 128
• A Beginnings: 129
• B The Internet backbone: 131
• from narrowband to broadband: 134
• The business market for broadband technology: 138
• The mass market: 140
• Monopoly Leveraging Concerns and the Internet: 149
• I The History and Economics of Monopoly Leveraging Concerns in the Internet Marketplace: 151
• B Monopoly leveraging concerns in a broadband world: 155
• II Three Proposals for Addressing Monopoly Leveraging Concerns: 158
• A Multiple ISP access: 159
• B Net neutrality and the endtoend principle: 168
• The asserted need for Net neutrality rules: 171
• The potential costs of Net neutrality rules: 174
• C Wireline broadband unbundling rules: 179
• Line sharing: 182
• Next generation networks: 184
• VoIP and Proposals for Horizontal Regulation: 191
• II The Regulatory Treatment of VoIP Services: 197
• A IPtoIP services: 198
• B PSTNtoPSTN services: 200
• the basics: 201
• classification and jurisdiction: 204
• III VoIP Horizontal Regulation and Title I: 209
• B Title I Title II and forbearance: 213
• C The contours of the FCCs ancillary jurisdiction: 216
• The Spectrum: 225
• I Revolution in the Air: 227
• II The Basics of Traditional Spectrum Regulation: 231
• A Allocation: 233
• B Assignment: 235
• III Beyond CommandandControl: 239
• A Property rights: 242
• The Easter Bunny wins the Preakness: 243
• Controversy in the transition: 245
• Einsteins cat in the age of the mouse: 251
• C From theory to practice: 257
• Mobile Wireless Services: 261
• I The Basics of Cellular Technology: 262
• II The Regulatory Landscape: 267
• B The general deregulation of wireless telephony: 270
• III Interoperability Among Wireless Networks: 274
• WirelessWireline Competition and Regulatory Parity Questions: 281
• A Number portability: 283
• B Enhanced 911 mandates: 287
• Intercarrier Compensation: 291
• I The CrazyQuilt of Intercarrier Compensation Schemes: 293
• B The ISP reciprocal compensation controversy: 296
• C Intercarrier compensation and VoIP: 303
• D Intercarrier compensation rules for wireless and transiting carriers: 306
• II The Economics of Intercarrier Compensation Reform: 308
• A The economic logic of the terminating access monopoly: 310
• freedom to deny interconnection: 313
• callingnetworkpays: 315
• billandkeep: 319
• III Intercarrier Compensation Reform and the 1996 Act: 324
• Universal Service in the Age of Competition: 333
• I The Political and Economic Dynamics of Universal Service: 334
• II Universal Service Funding Mechanisms: 339
• B The case of rural carriers: 344
• III Universal Service Contribution Mechanisms: 348
• IV Universal Service in a Broadband World: 352
• Competition in the Delivery of Television Programming: 357
• I The Basics of Television Programming Delivery: 360
• II Regulation of Relationships Among Video Distribution Platforms: 363
• B Must carry: 365
• C Satellite retransmission of broadcast signals: 367
• D The program access rules: 369
• III Regulation of Relationships Between TV Programming Producers and Distributors: 371
• A Broadcast networks: 372
• B Cable television: 375
• IV Restrictions on Ownership of Television Broadcast Stations: 378
• Telecommunications Standards Technological Transitions and Digital Television: 385
• I An Overview of Telecommunications Standards: 387
• B Current standardsetting institutions: 389
• C The economics of standardsetting and the role of the FCC: 392
• II The Digital Television Case Study: 395
• A The development effort: 396
• B The deployment effort: 398
• C Digital must carry and the statutory 85 threshold: 400
• D Content providers and digital rights management: 402
• The Future of Telecommunications Policy: 407
• I Digital Juggernaut: 409
• II First Principles of Institutional Reform: 411
• B Judging Congress: 413
• C The antitrust alternative: 414
• III The FCC in Transition: 419
• Relations with reviewing courts: 421
• Relations with the states: 422
• Relations with coordinate merger review authorities: 423
• B Neutrality: 426
• C Humility: 428
• The Pricing of Network Elements: 431
• Historical cost: 433
• Forwardlooking cost: 435
• Where forwardlooking and historical costs diverge: 440
• Varieties of forwardlooking cost methodologies: 443
• Prospects for revisions to TELRIC: 448
• Enforcement Mechanisms Under the 1996 Act: 455
• Enforcement of interconnection agreements: 458
• Statutory Addendum: 461
• List of Notable Commentaries: 493
• Table of Authorities: 513
• Notes: 533
• Index: 643
• Glossary of Acronyms: 667

About the author

Philip J. Weiser is Associate Professor of Law and Telecommunications at the University of Colorado and Executive Director and Founder of the Silicon Flatirons Telecommunications Program. He was principal telecommunications adviser to former Assistant Attorney General Joel Klein during the Clinton administration and previously served as law clerk for US Supreme Court Justices Byron R. White and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Digital Crossroads: American Telecommunications Policy In The Internet Age
• Author: JONATHAN E AUTOR NUECHTERLEIN
• Editor: PHILIP J AUTOR WEISER
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: MIT Press, 2005
• ISBN: 0262250209, 9780262250207
• Length: 670 pages
• Subjects: Business & Economics / Industries / Computers & Information Technology; Business & Economics / Industries / Media & Communications; Technology & Engineering / Telecommunications