2007 Telecommunications Symposium
Voice, Video and Broadband: The Changing Competitive Landscape and Its Impact on Consumers
November 29, 2007
The Antitrust Division hosted a public symposium to discuss competition in telecommunications services and video programming delivery, including the prospects for additional competition and whether regulatory changes or other government action would promote more competition.
On this page:
- Overview of the Symposium
- Report (11/2008)
Related pages on this site:
Contact: For more information, contact the Antitrust Division by e-mail at 2007TelecomSymposium@usdoj.gov.
The telecommunications industry has been experiencing significant technological, economic, and regulatory changes in the decade since the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Telecommunications services and multichannel video services provided to consumers have increasingly come to be supplied by competing facilities-based alternatives, with telephone companies and cable TV systems both offering consumers bundles of voice telephony, broadband, and video services in many areas. There is also widespread discussion of other possible alternatives for delivery of telecommunications and video services to consumers, including wireless and broadband over power lines.
At the same time, concerns are sometimes expressed about remaining barriers to entry into the delivery of telecommunications and video programming services. Such barriers-whether arising from regulatory restrictions, conduct of established providers, or inherent economic and technical limitations-may tend to restrict the degree of competitiveness of these services.
Because of these substantial changes in the telecommunications industry and consumers’ interest in competitive telecommunications and video programming delivery services, the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice hosted a symposium to discuss the current state of competition in these services, the prospects for additional competition, and whether regulatory changes or other government action would promote more competition.
Panel discussions: The symposium was structured around four panel discussions:
- Panel I: Entry into Multichannel Video Services
- Panel II: Entry into Telecommunications Services
- Panel III: Wireless Technologies
- Panel IV: Other Alternative Technologies Including Satellite and Broadband over Power Line
For more details on the panel discussions and topics, see the symposium agenda.
For more information on the scope of this symposium, read the Federal Register Notice.
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