The years since the early 1980s have seen exceptionally fast rates of change in every aspect of the telecommunications industry. These include major technology changes and the convergence of the broadcasting, information technology and telecommunications industries. The earlier view of telecommunications as a natural monopoly has now given way to one in which almost all parts are susceptible to some form of competition. Simultaneously, market structure has changed through the replacement of the former monopolistic, vertically integrated telephone companies by a variety of competing firms....