| Convergence
is the delivery of similar, existing or new, media, telephony and Internet
services via the same transmission platform. Its main drivers are, first,
the relaxation of regulatory barriers to forming corporate alliances and,
second, the market logic of taking advantage of new digital technologies
and expand across sectors and internationally. This convergence calls for
a regulatory reform on two levels. First, the institutional level -i.e.
the merging of regulatory bodies traditionally overseeing the broadcasting
and telecommunications sectors. In this way, the telecommunications-broadcasting
dichotomy will be eliminated. Second, regulation should be dynamic so as
to cope with fast changing technological, political and market changes.
In light of convergence and globalization, a growing number of calls are
being heard for a uniform, general competition policy, applicable to all
sectors. Competition regulation has received increased attention in Europe
to cover all converged communications sectors. This analysis assesses whether
economic regulation can provide the optimum economic and social efficiency
in the communications market or whether sector-specific structural regulation
is required. |
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