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# Regulators’ Revenge: The Future of Telecommunications Deregulation 

June 1998 • Published By Cato Institute 

By [Tom W. Bell](https://www.cato.org/people/tom-bell) and [Solveig Singleton](https://www.cato.org/people/solveig-singleton) 

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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.

##### About the Editors 

Tom W. Bell is a professor at Chapman University. He is an expert in technology, intellectual property, and telecommunications law.

Solveig Singleton is the former director of information studies for the Cato Institute. She is currently a senior policy analyst with the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Project on Technology and Innovation.