Public Telecoms 2.0: The Return of the State

The time has come to engage in a new discussion on the role of the state in the next generation of electronic communications. For almost a generation now the dominant approach has been that of deregulation, privatisation, competition and free trade. It was believed that in time the role of the state as owner or regulator of communications infrastructure would wither away.This approach, whose impetus came especially from universities, took hold in American public policy, and spread around the globe. In time, it became the governing orthodoxy. Today, with data in hand, and with new technologies emerging, the question is, ?has the old approach worked?? And ?what next??