The Telecommunications Act of 1996, passed with great fanfare and glowing tributes from both Congress and the Administration, has failed to fulfill its deregulatory promise of lower prices and better service. In many cases the act has replaced regulated monopoly with eerily similar regulated competition. Some observers are even calling for more regulation. Because only markets that are truly free will innovate and remain healthy in the long run, however, these essays advocate further movement toward free markets in telecommunications.
Contributors include Alfred E. Kahn, Peter Huber, Henry Geller, Tom Tauke, Peter K. Pitsch, Thomas W. Hazlett, Eli M. Noam, and Lawrence Gasman, among others, discussing such issues as the current status of telecommunications deregulation, universal service and “information have-nots,” interconnection, spectrum auctions, and broadcast licensing.