Telephone Companies In Paradise

In 1986, the state of Nebraska completely discarded traditional utility regulation, deregulating rates and profits of its local telephone companies. The Nebraska experiment has become a benchmark for reassessing the role of state regulation in the future of telecommunications. Using comparative data from five midwestern states, Mueller shows how deregulation affected rates, investment, infrastructure modernization, and profits. He uncovers both positive and negative results. Mueller found established telephone companies to be basically conservative, not aggressive and expansionist, and concludes that new competition, not regulation or deregulation, is transforming the telecommunications industry.