ABSTRACT
There are contrasting views on what is required, from governments, producers and even consumers, for the new information economy (or the e-economy) to ‘take off’, and to deliver the ‘best’ outcome. The range of views is sufficiently different (see other chapters in this book, for example) to indicate that there is no general agreement as to what the problem is, rather than just being alternative approaches to the same problem. This chapter, based on the experience of being at the centre of regulating the UK telecommunications industry for nine years, is an attempt to better define the fundamental problem(s) that exist now (and are likely to persist), before going on to suggest where the solutions may lie.
