Since the revolution in modern telecommunications that followed the invention of the telegraph, telecommunication networks have provided channels for the fast delivery of communications across national borders. This transnational nature of telecommunication networks have led to the establishment of international regulatory regimes on the subject. On the other hand, developing countries consider regional economic integration as a major strategy for promoting trade and development, telecommunications have been seen within this context as a strategic tool for facilitating regional economic integration. This has also led to the establishment of regional telecommunication regulatory regimes that aim to promote regional integration and regulatory harmonization. This book discusses telecommunication regimes established by international and regional organizations such as the United Nations, the International Telecommunication Union, the World Trade Organization, the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States, and the Southern African Development Community, among a number of others. It will be relevant to policy makers, regulators, lawyers, law students, investors and telecommunication operators, as well as any person interested in international and African regional telecommunication regimes.

2009 Release: "International Telecommunications Law [2009] - I", a four-volume set with more than 2,500 pages, offers specialists from North and South America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific, and the Middle East who examine their respective telecommunications legal and regulatory regimes. Purchase Volumes II, III, and IV to complete the set. The publication is replaced by updated volumes annually. A 25% discount applies to a subscription for three years of updates. Discounts are applied after purchase by rebate from publisher.

For companies in and around the telecommunications field, the past few years have been a time of extraordinary change-technologically and legally. The enacting of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the development of international trade agreements have fundamentally changed the environment in which your business operates, creating risks, responsibilities, and opportunities that were not there before. Until now, you'd have had a hard time finding a serious business book that offered any more than a cursory glance at this transformed world. But at last there's a resource you can depend on for in-depth analysis and sound advice. Written in easy-to-understand language, Telecommunications Law in the Internet Age systematically examines the complex interrelationships of new laws, new technologies, and new business practices, and equips you with the practical understanding you need to run your enterprise optimally within today's legal boundaries.* Offers authoritative coverage from a lawyer and telecommunications authority who has been working in the field for over three decades.* Examines telecommunications law in the U.S., at both the federal and state level.* Presents an unparalleled source of information on international trade regulations and their effects on the industry.* Covers the modern telecommunications issues with which most companies are grappling: wireless communication, e-commerce, satellite systems, privacy and encryption, Internet taxation, export controls, intellectual property, spamming, pornography, Internet telephony, extranets, and more.* Provides guidelines for preventing inadvertent violations of telecommunications law.* Offers guidance on fending off legal and illegal attacks by hackers, competitors, and foreign governments.* Helps you do more than understand and obey the law: helps you thrive within it.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Universal Postal Union (UPU) are the two major international organisations that are involved in the regulation of international communications. The ITU deals with electronic communications including radio. The UPU deals with mail. As such, both organisations are of major importance in modern life. This volume provides an up-to-date analysis of their development from inception to the present as they have responded to technical and political change. It also makes suggestions for the future. The volume will be an invaluable resource for researchers and students, policy-makers, government officials and administrators, and legal staff in telecommunication and postal organisations.

The Nigerian telecommunications industry has continued to grow in a phenomenal manner following market liberalization reforms that commenced in the 1990s. As of 2017, the telecommunications industry was one of the fastest-growing economic sectors in Nigeria and the fourth largest contributor to the country’s Gross Domestic Product. The telecommunications industry, however, remains a highly technical and naturally dynamic industry that has not been a usual area for legal research in developing countries such as Nigeria. This book bridges that gap in knowledge by providing an analysis of the legal and policy instruments that regulate the industry. It comprises eleven chapters that discuss the historical evolution of telecommunications and its regulation; the development of the Nigerian telecommunications industry from 1886 to 2017; the legal basis for the regulation of the industry; the licensing and duties of service providers; the regulation of network infrastructure; the protection of consumers; the regulation of competition, interconnection, universal access, and environmental protection; and the resolution of industry disputes. This book will be useful to policy makers, legislators, regulators, lawyers, law students, investors, operators, and consumers, as well as any person interested in the Nigerian telecommunications industry.

A thoroughly updated, comprehensive, and accessible guide to U.S. telecommunications law and policy, covering recent developments including mobile broadband issues, spectrum policy, and net neutrality. In Digital Crossroads, two experts on telecommunications policy offer a comprehensive and accessible analysis of the regulation of competition in the U.S. telecommunications industry. The first edition of Digital Crossroads (MIT Press, 2005) became an essential and uniquely readable guide for policymakers, lawyers, scholars, and students in a fast-moving and complex policy field. In this second edition, the authors have revised every section of every chapter to reflect the evolution in industry structure, technology, and regulatory strategy since 2005. The book features entirely new discussions of such topics as the explosive development of the mobile broadband ecosystem; incentive auctions and other recent spectrum policy initiatives; the FCC's net neutrality rules; the National Broadband Plan; the declining relevance of the traditional public switched telephone network; and the policy response to online video services and their potential to transform the way Americans watch television. Like its predecessor, this new edition of Digital Crossroads not only helps nonspecialists climb this field's formidable learning curve, but also makes substantive contributions to ongoing policy debates.

This book provides a clear and thorough account of the process leading up to the revision of the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) one of the four treaties administered by the ITU. The author’s inside view of the events and his legal analysis of the new ITRs, are different from that what has been aired in most other accounts to date. His systematic approach shows how much of the criticism of the WCIT-12 process and of the ITRs themselves, is unjustified. This book provides the most accurate view to date of what the ITRs really mean and of what really happened at WCIT-12, which was undoubtedly a key event in the history of telecommunication policy and which is likely to have significant long-term effects. The book covers in some detail the events leading to the non-signature of the treaty by a significant number of states, outlines possible consequences of that split between states, and offers possible ways forward. The book includes a detailed article-by-article analysis of the new ITRs, explaining their implications and concludes with recommendations for national authorities. It concludes with an analysis of events from the point of view of dispute resolution theory, offering suggestions for how to avoid divisive outcomes in the future. "This is an excellent book, and quite rich and comprehensive. The topic is important and the book will surely be of interest to regulators, diplomats, policy experts, and all those who participated in WCIT. The author is uniquely qualified to write an analysis of the new ITRs and an account of the Conference. This book will be a good reference for the next Plenipotentiary Conference to be held in 2014 which is going to discuss follow-up to WCIT-12." Naser al-Rashedi, United Arab Emirates. "This is an authoritative expert account of a moment of high significance for vital issues with respect to international networks." Professor Dan Schiller, University of Illinois. "This is an excellent and timely work." Professor Ian Walden, Queen Mary, University of London. "Interested persons, businesses and governments can draw their policies from the assessments of a telecommunications insider as presented in this book. The manifold arguments enlightening the interpretation of the provisions of the ITRs might become an invaluable guidance for those who apply the ITRs in the future." Professor Dr. Rolf H. Weber, University of Zurich.

Telecommunications Law and Practice in Nigeria -Perspectives on Consumer Protection is intended primarily to provide an indigenous source of information on the theoretical and legal framework of the regulation of telecommunications in Nigeria with respect to how such legal framework assists in addressing the consumers’ problems in the field of telecommunications. The book covers the evolution of telecommunications the world over and its variant in Nigeria, a variety of issues including the early controlling organs, regulatory regimes, the deregulation era, interconnectivity and privacy law, telecommunications and intellectual property, international trade and drafting of international trade contracts, encryption technology and privacy in telecommunications. The book should be an invaluable companion on the Nigerian telecommunications law and practice with perspectives on consumer protection.

After decades of liberalization of the telecommunications industry around the world and technological convergence that allows for increasing competition, sector-specific regulation of telecommunications has been on the decline. As a result, the telecommunications industry stands in the middle of a debate that calls for either a total deregulation of access to broadband infrastructures or a separation of infrastructure from service delivery. This book proposes new approaches to dealing with the current and future issues of regulation of telecommunication markets on both a regional and a global scale. This volume represents a valuable compendium of ideas regarding global trends in the telecommunications industry that focus on market and regulatory issues and company strategies. With an international cast of contributors, Regulation and the Evolution of the Global Telecommunications Industry also provides insight into topics including: mobile Internet development, structural function and separation, global experiences with next generation networks, technology convergence and the role of regulation, and the regulatory impact on the balance between static and dynamic efficiencies. The empirical evidence and experiences presented here illustrate the diversity of thoughts and research that characterize this important area of academic and business research. Thus, it will be a critical reference for scholars and students of regulatory economics, policy and finance and researchers and administrators of the telecom industry.

This book focuses on the history of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), from its origins in the mid-19th century to nowadays. ITU was the first international organization ever and still plays a crucial role in managing global telecommunications today. Putting together some of the most relevant scholars in the field of transnational communications, the book covers the history of ITU from 1865 to digital times in a truly global perspective, taking into account several technologies like the telegraph, the telephone, cables, wireless, radio, television, satellites, mobile phone, the internet and others. The main goal is to identify the long-term strategies of regulation and the techno-diplomatic manoeuvres taken inside ITU, from convincing the majority of the nations to establish the official seat of the Telegraph Union bureau in Switzerland in the 1860s, to contrasting the multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance (supported by US and ICANN). History of the International Telecommunication Union is a trans-disciplinary text and can be interesting for scholars and students in the fields of telecommunications, media, international organizations, transnational communication, diplomacy, political economy of communication, STS, and others. It has the ambition to become a reference point in the history of ITU and, at the same time, just the fi rst comprehensive step towards a longer, inter-technological, political and cultural history of transnational communications to be written in the future.