On Legal Issues In Telecommunications Regulation

In 1980s, with the development of telecommunication technology and the theory of public utility regulation, telecommunication industry was deregulated in many countries. The natural monopoly of telecommunication industry was questioned and the theory of telecommunication regulation based on it was challenged. However, since the natural monopoly of telecommunication industry is not disappeared completely, the deregulation does not mean abandoning the regulation. The regulation is still needed after introducing the competition in the telecommunication industry. This dissertation attempts to do some research for the re-regulation of the telecommunication industry, and then mainly focuses on the interconnection regulation with a great deal of analyses empirically. Finally, some suggestions about the legal system of interconnection regulation for China are proposed.There are six chapters in the dissertation. The first chapter is the general description of telecommunication regulation, which is the theory foundation of this paper. In this chapter, the necessity and feasibility of telecommunication re-regulation are discussed according to the economic theory. The following are analyzed in this chapter: the different implications of regulation in economics and laws, the natural monopoly of telecommunication industry, the telecommunication regulation system decided by the natural monopoly of telecommunication industry, the failure of telecommunication regulation, the innovation of telecommunication regulation theory, the trend of telecommunication deregulation and the re-regulation under the trend. The theory of "Regulation Failure Theory" by Stigler,Jean-Jacques Laffont, the theory of "Contestable Market Theory" by Baumol, the theory of "Elastic Regulation Theory of Natural Monopoly" by Berg and Tschirhart are introduced in the innovation of regulation theory.The second chapter is on the legal system of telecommunication regulation. This chapter is mainly focusing on analyzing telecommunication regulation in the law point of view compared with in the economic point of view in the first chapter. First, the meaning, character, objective and basic principle of the telecommunication regulation law are discussed. Then the independent telecommunication regulation system is analyzed and the author's opinion on the independence characteristic of independent telecommunication system is proposed. The difference of telecommunication regulation systems between European Union and New Zealand is also discussed in this chapter. Finally, this chapter discusses the legal system of network interconnection, focusing on the meaning, categories, contents of network interconnection and the reason to analyze it.The third chapter discusses the economic regulation system, one of legal regulations of interconnection. There are seven parts in this chapter: the basic principle of economic regulation in interconnection, the definition of dominant operator and its criteria, the regulation of market access, the regulation of interconnection agreements, the regulation of interconnection fee and the regulation of interconnection dispute.The fourth chapter discusses the anti-monopolization law regulation system. The following six parts are included in this chapter: the application of anti-monopolization law on interconnection, the responsibility types of interconnection monopolization, the categories of anti-competition interconnection, the application of the basic principle of anti-monopolization on interconnection, and the conflicts aroused by the application of anti-monopolization law on interconnection.The fifth chapter studies the rule of interconnection regulation under WTO. As a member of WTO, it is the obligation for China to follow the interconnection regulation of WTO. So, it is beneficial for us to do some research on the rule of interconnection regulation of WTO. This chapter introduces the international tendency of telecommunication regulation law and then points out that the interconnection in the new international competition is becoming a new trade barrier. Taking the interconnection dispute of the United States and Mexico as an example, this chapter does a deep research for the interconnection regulation under WTO.The sixth chapter introduces the current interconnection regulation in our country and proposes some suggestions about it. On the base of previous chapters' analysis about telecommunication regulation, this chapter analyzes some problems existed in the Chinese interconnection regulation at length and make some suggestions. First, the history of telecommunication reform in our country is introduced. Then, eight problems in our country's interconnection regulation are analyzed and some suggestions about them are proposed. The eight problems are problems of property, corporate governance, telecommunication regulation system, the criteria for dominant operators, market access, the regulation of interconnection agreements, the regulation of interconnection fee and anti-monopolization law regulation.In the conclusion part of this paper, it is pointed out that the re-regulation of telecommunication industry is only a part of reform of public utilities' regulation, its principle and experience can be applied to all the reform of public utilities.