Six Degrees of Separation: Operational Separation as a Remedy in European Telecommunications Regulation
[ Last Updated 5 April 2007 ]
Short Description
This paper identifies the problem which separation is intended to tackle, lists a number of possible variants, and discusses the experience in the UK.
Author
Martin Cave, Warwick Business School, Coventry
Released: 5 April 2007.
This article was first published in, and is also available from, Communications and Strategies, Issue no. 64, 4th quarter 2006 [link to IDATE website]. It is reproduced here with the permission of the author.
Abstract
Numerous proposals have been made for separation in the telecommunications sector, and some implemented, including the break-up of the Bell system in the 1980s and the widespread implementation of accounting separation. In recent years, attention has been focussed on operational separation. The paper identifies the problem which this is intended to tackle, lists a number of possible variants, and discusses experience in the UK. Having specified the circumstances in which operational separation might be justified, it suggests how provision for it could be made in European legislation.
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