Down to the Wire Studies in the Diffusion and Regulation of Telecommunications Technologies

In recent years, regulators and businesses have struggled to keep pace with an onslaught of new technologies that has dramatically changed the world's telecommunications networks. This book gathers together research intended for those who must grapple with these changes -- the people who must decide whether and how to deploy new telecommunications technologies, and those who must regulate the technologies. The research is divided into three sections focusing on the past, present and future of telecommunications innovations. The first section, Lessons from the Past, examines what lessons concerning adoption and regulation can be learned by studying the diffusion of recent telecommunications technologies. The second section, Decision Making with Respect to Diffusing Technologies, examines possible improvements to the decision-making processes used by companies and regulators in the face of limited information and dynamic markets. The final section, Public Policy and Future Diffusion, examines public policy implications for future technologies.