The Prerequisites to Competition: Two Proposals to Reform Universal Service and Interconnection

"Regulation and Competition in Telecommunications - an International Comparison" 1. Reforming Interconnection 1.1 The Importance of Interconnection In 1982, AT&T was split up by the American government. In Japan, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication is now considering a similar policy towards NTT. In both cases, the companies have strenuously resisted a massive government intervention pursued in the name of deregulation. But in the future, divestiture may not be state-imposed at all, but rather company-initiated, …

…and more with herd psychology. Already it seems that any recent business deal is being credited to the new Act, as if media empire building has just been invented. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is useful in cleaning up many accumulated problems of yesterday. It is far from revolutionary today. And its over-specificity will be a problem tomorrow. In the meantime, most of the promised jobs that will be created first will be those of lawyers.