ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how liberalization has at least in part favored digitalization. It explains how digitalization works and what digital platforms are and discusses the economics of digital platforms and how the economics make them comparable to traditional infrastructures. The chapter proposes the emergence of digital platforms in the traditional infrastructures, with the example of mobility and argues for the regulation of digital platforms. The liberalization of the different network industries has dynamics to it, something that has drawn little attention in the literature so far but which, in the age of digitalization, can no longer be ignored. Digital platforms are clearly not traditional, physical infrastructures. As in traditional network industries, digital platforms have sunk costs leading to economies of scale. Digital platforms in the traditional network industries are in their infancy. So far, concrete examples exist only in transport or mobility and, to a lesser extent, in energy. Digital platforms can be considered a new type of network industry.
