ABSTRACT
The regulation of the telecommunications industry has been the object of intensive study.1 The industry has been in the vanguard of the turbulent regulatory shifts of the last two decades. Once universally recognised as a natural monopoly (whether as a state-run PTT like the Post Office or as a vertically integrated private monopoly like the Bell system of AT&T in the USA) the industry became the test-bed of often radical experimentation with competitive structures. There is little doubt that such experimentation was heavily influenced by radical new ideas of die advantages of, and potential for, such structures. A distinguish ing feature of telecommunications regulation over the last 25 years has been the impact of technology which continues radically to transform telecommunications and challenges 'conventional wisdom' about the nature and scope of telecommunications markets.2 Technological change has therefore been a key driver for regulatory change. The pace of that change and the regulatory change it generates make telecommunica tions particularly worthy of study as a regulatory paradigm. Britain, as die first to deregulate and introduce competition in Europe, is in a particularly special position as a guide to die effect of competition in these utilities. Indeed, regulatory developments in Britain are often a benchmark for other European telecommunications regulatory regimes.
