Regulating Ict Convergence

Abstract

AbstractThe Broadcasting, Information Technology and Telecommunications sectors have in recent years been the subject of notable transformation, one important feature of which is their coming closer together in a number of ways — it is now commonplace to speak of a new hybrid sector, Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs). This convergence is of considerable interest to policy-makers in industry and government at the national and international level, as well as the academic community and, in particular, one of the key questions raised concerns how to regulate for such convergence. Focusing on the European Union (EU) context, this article argues that in recent years the telecommunications element of ICTs has been subject to change in the form of both liberalisation and re-regulation to the international level, which has been justified by numerous arguments, and indeed in some quarters vaunted as an appropriate model to be applied to ICTs as a whole. This article suggests that whilst the telecom...