EU communications policy has massively changed due to both global competition on the ICT market and technological developments that led to the emergence of Internet technology. This book analyzes the structural and procedural transformation processes inside the EU legislative processes and concludes that EU communications policy struggles to reflect today's internet-enabled communications reality. It provides insights in the institutional conditions that maintained specific patterns of EU communications policy since the beginning of telecommunications regulation and concludes with an outlook on the technological and regulatory challenges ahead.

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.

In recent years, liberalization, privatization and deregulation have become commonplace in sectors once dominated by government-owned monopolies. In telecommunications, for example, during the 1990s, more than 129 countries established independent regulatory agencies and more than 100 countries privatized the state-owned telecom operator. Why did so many countries liberalize in such a short period of time? For example, why did both Denmark and Burundi, nations different along so many relevant dimensions, liberalize their telecom sectors around the same time? Kirsten L. Rodine-Hardy argues that international organizations – not national governments or market forces – are the primary drivers of policy convergence in the important arena of telecommunications regulation: they create and shape preferences for reform and provide forums for expert discussions and the emergence of policy standards. Yet she also shows that international convergence leaves room for substantial variation among countries, using both econometric analysis and controlled case comparisons of eight European countries.

Telecommunications are increasingly recognized as a key component in the infrastructure of economic development. For many years, there were state-owned monopolies in the telecommunications sector. In transition economies, they were characterized by especially poor performance and high access deficits, as telecommunications were considered to be a non-profit-oriented production process intended to support the socio-economic superstructures. As a result, the starting point for the reform processes in transition countries was quite poor performed public monopolies, functioned under completely different circumstances as the peers in the market economies. The main question of this book is what the strategies for the successful future development of the telecommunications sector in transition countries are. The special focus is on Russia, the largest of the transition countries.

Leveraging virtual reality (VR) and the metaverse for remote working and virtual team collaboration presents innovative opportunities to create immersive, interconnected digital environments where remote teams can collaborate, communicate, and work together effectively. VR platforms within the metaverse offer advanced communication and collaboration tools, enabling natural and intuitive interactions among remote team members. By leveraging the capabilities of VR and the metaverse, organizations can create dynamic, immersive, and interconnected virtual work environments that transcend traditional boundaries, enabling remote teams to collaborate effectively, innovate creatively, and thrive in the digital age. Optimizing Virtual Reality and Metaverse for Remote Work and Virtual Team Collaboration provides deep insights into the role and applications of VR and metaverse in effective remote working and virtual team collaboration. It further discusses the implementation and implications of these tools in modern work environments. Covering topics such as business communication, negotiation techniques, and workplace training, this book is an excellent resource for academicians, graduate and postgraduate students, educators, researchers, industry professionals, business leaders, and more.

Providing a comprehensive overview of the current European regulatory framework on telecommunications, this book analyses the 2016 proposal for a European Electronic Communications Code (EECC). The work takes as its basis the 2009 Regulatory Framework on electronic communications and analyses each of its five main directives, comparing them with the changes proposed in the EECC. Key chapters focus on issues surrounding choosing the right regulatory model in order to secure effective investment in next-generation networks and ensure their successful deployment.