My phd thesis is finally out as a book with Cameron May.
It's entitled "EC Electronic Communications and Competition Law" and in essence attempts to answer the question of whether generic competition law rules can be a sufficient and efficient regulator of the electronic communications sector.
I argue that this question needs to be examined not in the conventional contexts of sector specific rules versus competition rules or deregulation versus regulation but in a broader governance context. The reader is provided with an insight into the workings of the communications sector which is exposed as being network-bound, converging, dynamic and endowed with a special societal function. This together with the scrutiny of the underlying regulatory objectives paints the most comprehensive picture of the in the communications sector and allows for a nuanced answer to the above question, and ultimately, for the designing of multi-faceted, hybrid regulatory toolbox.
The enquiry is based on the European Community competition rules and the current communications regime but the conclusions drawn are applicable to other regulatory environments as well. Some insights are also of interest today in the context of the net neutrality discussions, or more generally with regard to the question of how the regulation of infrastructure influences content flows.
