Evolving Technologies and Market Structures: Schumpeterian Gales of Creative Destruction and the United Kingdom Internet Service Providers' Market

摘要

In the United States, there are diverging views on the need for intervention in the Internet service provider (ISP) market. Jason Oxman, representing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) argued that, given the nascent development of the relatively immature ISP market, there is no basis for intervention because of the larger number of entrants to this market (1999). In contrast, Francois Bar et al. suggested that sustained intervention in the market is needed to encourage the evolution of an open internetworking environment that is consistent with economic and social policy (1999). One close observer of the evolution of the communication industry in the United States, Harry Trebing, has demonstrated that many market developments in recent years have been inconsistent with an inadequate standard of protection of the public interest (1995, 1998). He has argued that the emergence of tight oligopolies may mean that societal goals for greater participation in using networks are not met (Trebing 1995; Trebing and Eastabrooks 1995).