1st Edition

Telecommunications Regulation Culture, Chaos and Interdependence Inside the Regulatory Process

    Using unprecedented access to the key actors inside the UK Office of Telecommunications (OFTEL) and supporting interviews, this book explores how telecommunications regulation works from the inside.

    Part I: Introduction1. Ducts, poles and holes in the ground: the inner world of telecommunications regulation 2. The archaeology of a regulatory regime Part II: Culture and regulation3. Peculiar place, peculiar culture: organising and structuring the regulatory office Part III: The absolutist myth in regulation4. 'Oftel c'est moi': the role of the individual DGT 5. Oftel in space: interdependence and accountability Part IV: Decision-making6. Regulatory decision styles 7. Price controls and numbering administration: Cartesian-bureaucratic issue-processing episodes 8. Regulating anti-competitive conduct and not regulating hotel phone pricing: adhocratic-chaotic issue-processing episodes 9. Complaint-handling, licence enforcement and anti-competitive conduct II: bargaining-diplomatic issue-processing episodes Part V: Lessons learnt10. Regulatory science, regulatory policy and possible regulatory futures Epilogue - OFTEL's fourth life-stage? New director general, New Labour, new rules of the game Glossary Bibliography

    Biography

    Clare Hall, Colin Scott, Christopher Hood

    'An excellent, thorough and well-researched contribution. - Doug Pitt, Telecommunications Policy 25 (2001) 271-276