New book on international telecom policy offers ‘cynical’ look at...
New book on international telecom policy offers “cynical” look at efforts by U.S. and European Union regulators to implement World Trade Organization (WTO) Basic Agreement on Telecom Services, according to its preface. The Telecom Trade Wars was written by…
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Lawrence Spiwak, ex-FCC attorney, and Mark Naftel, partner in London law firm Norton Rose, both involved with Phoenix Center think tank. Authors said they hoped to give “uplifting story about how the world was marching over the ‘bridge to the 21st Century’ and into the information society.” Instead, they discovered 2 “disturbing trends” in telecom regulation: (1) “Growing telecom trade war that is dangerously close to spinning out of hand.” (2) “Growing politicization of… the regulatory process generally.” In both cases, they found “many regulatory initiatives post-WTO harm rather than maximize consumer welfare.” Book was published late last year but hasn’t been widely publicized. (Hart Publishing, 485 pp., www.hartpub.co.uk).