Abstract:

The diffusion of mobile services has achieved a spectacular growth in many countries around the world. However, regulators in these countries are finding that existing regulatory frameworks are not suitable for dealing with these services. This paper employs qualitative evidence to investigate how regulation can affect mobile services in the Australian mobile telecommunications industry and draws from it to propose an innovative regulatory framework. The framework is comprised of five major components: consumer and intellectual property protection, market and resources access, and environmental protection. We argue that these encompass the interests of the stakeholders operating in mobile industry and given its dynamic and complex nature, co-regulation is an effective approach that can be used to minimize costs and enhance compliance.