Internet platform regulation: platforms are not landlines

http://bit.ly/IntePlat

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Monolith idea of telecom regulation

● Of the “Lower Layer”○ Static hardware, not

a social creation● Regulation can assure

networks that are:● Affordable

○ Low costs● Reliable

○ Interoperable● Universal access

○ Innovations diffuse

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However, platforms are not landlines

1. Non-linear innovation (e.g Google)

2. Interconnectedness of innovation (e.g. App stores)

3. Financial, technical & social costs of regulation are neither trivial nor clear (e.g. Yahoo & China, uTorrent, spam)

4. By encouraging innovation, costs of obsolescence threaten ‘incumbent’ monopolies and oligopolies (e.g. PayPal, WhatsApp, Viber, Skype)

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Platforms need ecosystem thinking

Different businesses with different cost models

Asymmetrical power

Some innovations, but not all, require complementary advances

Regulating experimental advances

Anti-trust and IP law

Interdependencies

… none of which are accounted for easily by regulators

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