Toward a unifying regulatory structure for the delivery of broadband telecommunications services

Abstract

This paper analyzes the regulatory environment in which three potential competitors — the telephone companies, the cable industry, and SMATV systems — currently operate. In order to provide a more competitive market for the delivery of broadband video services, a unifying regulatory system that will level out the regulatory playing field for these three industries is constructed. This unifying regulatory structure corrects such problems as current entry barriers, uneven market power and the ability to cross‐subsidize competitive services with monopoly profits, and jurisdictional structure among federal, state, and local governments.