Digital Crossroads

Telecommunications policy profoundly affects the economy and our everyday lives. Yet
accounts of important telecommunications issues tend to be either superficial (and inaccurate) or
mired in jargon and technical esoterica. In Digital Crossroads, Jonathan Nuechterlein and Philip
Weiser offer a clear, balanced, and accessible analysis of competition policy issues in the
telecommunications industry. After giving a big picture overview of the field, they present sharply
reasoned analyses of the major technological, economic, and legal developments confronting
communications policymakers in the twenty-first century.Since the passage of the Telecommunications
Act of 1996, when Congress fundamentally reoriented the existing regulatory scheme, no book has
cogently explained the intricacies of telecommunications competition policy in the Internet age for
general readers, students, and practitioners alike. Digital Crossroads meets this need, focusing on
the regulatory dimensions of competition in wireline and wireless telephone service; competition
among rival platforms for broadband Internet service and video distribution; and the Internet's
transformation of every aspect of the telecommunications industry, particularly through the
emergence of "voice over Internet protocol" (VoIP). The authors explain not just the complicated
legal issues governing the industry, but also the rapidly changing technological and economic
context in which these issues arise. The book includes extensive endnotes and tables that cover
relevant court decisions, FCC orders, and academic commentaries; a glossary of acronyms; a statutory
addendum containing the most important provisions of federal telecommunications law; and two
appendixes with information on more specialized topics. Supplementary materials for students are
available at http://spot.colorado.edu/~weiserpj.
 
With a new preface for the paperback editionTelecommunications policy profoundly
affects the economy and our everyday lives. Yet accounts of important telecommunications issues tend
to be either superficial (and inaccurate) or mired in jargon and technical esoterica. In Digital
Crossroads, Jonathan Nuechterlein and Philip Weiser offer a clear, balanced, and accessible analysis
of competition policy issues in the telecommunications industry. After giving a big picture overview
of the field, they present sharply reasoned analyses of the major technological, economic, and legal
developments confronting communications policymakers in the twenty-first century.Since the passage
of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, when Congress fundamentally reoriented the existing
regulatory scheme, no book has cogently explained the intricacies of telecommunications competition
policy in the Internet age for general readers, students, and practitioners alike. Digital
Crossroads meets this need, focusing on the regulatory dimensions of competition in wireline and
wireless telephone service; competition among rival platforms for broadband Internet service and
video distribution; and the Internet's transformation of every aspect of the telecommunications
industry, particularly through the emergence of "voice over Internet protocol" (VoIP). The authors
explain not just the complicated legal issues governing the industry, but also the rapidly changing
technological and economic context in which these issues arise. The book includes extensive endnotes
and tables that cover relevant court decisions, FCC orders, and academic commentaries; a glossary of
acronyms; a statutory addendum containing the most important provisions of federal
telecommunications law; and two appendixes with information on more specialized topics.
Supplementary materials for students are available at
http://spot.colorado.edu/~weiserpj.