Abstract

The telecommunications sector has undergone radical changes in the last few years due not only to significant technological progress but also to liberalization, regulation and privatization processes that have characterized the industry since the late 1990s. In this paper, using data from the "Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni", we provide an assessment of how these concurring factors have influenced the average price paid by the consumer, whether private or business, for Plain Old Telephone Services (POTS). Rather than assess the merit of regulatory choices that have guided the industry development, the goal of our analysis is to measure as precisely as possible the price trends for POTS prices in Italy between 2000 and 2005.