Rebooting Antitrust and Regulation for Digital Communications

This paper analyzes the development of a “tight oligopoly on steroids” in the communications sector. It uses Business Data Service as an example because it represents a new choke point in the sector. The other services in the “tight oligopoly” include wireline and wireless, cable and set top boxes, and broadband. Using antitrust concepts in the Merger Guidelines the paper argues that high levels of concentration are reinforced by geographic separations, technological specialization, and