Research On The Issue Of Building Regulatory System Of Triple Play

Human society is moving towards the direction of information society. People's living standard has been continually improved through the applications of information technology. Traditionally, the telecommunications network mainly transmit voice signal, and the main purpose of access to telecommunications networks is to have a call, and contact with others; broadcasting network transmit images and sound signals,and the aim of access to broadcasting networks is to have audio-visual entertainment. However, since the progress of technological advances, the definite boundaries between telecommunications network and broadcasting networks have become blurred. Telecommunications network is capable of transmitting voice and images, users can also use the broadcasting network to connect with the outside world. People are not satisfied with the only use of the single network; all of them want to get more services through a simpler way to connect to the network. Technical changes have brought changes within the industry and in inter-industry. The ever independent industries that telecommunications, broadcasting, the Internet and other related industries can converge into one communications industry under certain conditions, and this is the triple play.Triple play is essentially a convergence of telecommunications, broadcasting, and the Internet industries, which will inevitably result in great change of the industry structure and regulation system, and thereby affecting the interests of business, government and other counterparts. Therefore, based on China's national conditions and the reality of the three major network operators, it is a major issue that how to reform the existing industry regulation system and re-design regulation system which adapt to the Triple play, in connection with the mergers and acquisitions, business restructuring, protection of consumer welfare and other issues.Triple play involved industries which have network economic characteristics and natural monopoly economic characteristics to some extent. For different networks, the network economic characteristics will produce the direct or indirect network externalities, and these economic characteristics will have a significant impact on the choice of regulatory tools. The economic characteristic of natural monopoly implies that it is the most efficient situation to let one firm exist in the industry, and it needs government regulation to limit market entry behavior. However, changes in technical conditions and the progress of regulation theory make people reconsider to the regulation of the telecommunications industry. Some industries have lost their original natural monopoly characteristics; some parts of the natural monopoly industries sectors have also changed; at the same time, as the emergence of substitutes, the new products or changes in income levels, so that the needs of society has also changed. The specific issues raised by Triple play, such as content regulation, etc., should also be carefully reconsidered. In addition, the problem of regulation itself revealed by the regulation failure is also must be overcome in the process of the regulatory reform.From the technology development trend, the telecommunications industry regulation should be established on the horizontal regulatory system which is technology neutral, i.e. regardless of what technology is used to transmit the information, it should be separate between the infrastructure network and upper services and applications related to regulation, this vertical separation of regulatory structure is in line with the requirements of information society development. However, this regulation system can not be achieved quickly in China in the short term. Because regulatory reform is still at the initial stage, and China needs a relatively stable environment for industrial development. In addition, conflicts of interest between the industrial sectors also make it not easy to achieve this. To balance the dynamic and static market efficiency, competition need to be introduced in the market, and control the market structure, and standardize enterprise behavior, introduce incentives while deregulation, and consider their social goals at the same time. This requirement challenged China's current regulatory system of the communications industry. Regulatory agencies must make a change, and to develop response measures. The logical structures of the paper are as follows:Chapter 1 describes the background, the basic concept of the communications industry and the network convergence, and also reviewed the related theory of network convergence and industry convergence. Chapter 2 briefly introduces the development process of China's telecommunications industry and current situation; summed up government regulation within the telecommunications, broadcasting, the Internet industries; analyzes regulatory shortcomings; and outlines the implementation process of China's triple play. Chapter 3 introduces triple play in the specific context, analyzes regulation problems raised by the network convergence, industry convergence. Chapter 4 summarizes the experience of the foreign country's process of triple play and regulatory reform, in order to provide a reference to the Chinese practice. Finally, Chapter 5, gives suggestion on the regulatory system of triple play mainly from the building principle, the legal system, the setting of regulatory agencies, and their ways of regulation.Although this paper have also raised some specific regulatory issues, these problems are not easy to resolve in one move. In order to obtain more comprehensive appropriate policy, some issues, such as network access regulation, interconnection, etc., must be analyze in detail in the economic theory. These issues need to be further analyzed and comprehensive researched from the perspective of economic theory and practice.