Network neutrality: transatlantic policy learning can be mutual!

Being fascinated by the maturity of American antitrust policy and feeling embarrassed and apologetic for the weaknesses of its European counterpart is a common attitude among the comparativists of European antitrust scholarship. In a recent TILEC discussion paper, TILEC member Jasper Sluijs challenges this conventional opinion and argues that Europeans also have reasons to be proud. The paper conducts a comparative analysis between different approaches to telecoms regulation on both sides of the Atlantic with a specific focus on the issue of network neutrality. The paper places the question of network neutrality in the greater debate of incentivising investment to the next generation broadband infrastructure, under the grave uncertainties regarding the future of the broadband market. The concepts of false negatives and positives, which the paper successfully borrows from statistics, constitute the main analytical foundation for the comparison between the European and American regulatory approaches. Overall, the paper finds the European approach more flexible and responsive, as the existence of both consistent sector specific regulation and a strong antitrust policy makes it possible to address any false negatives and positives swiftly. The paper is to appear in the Federal Communications Law Journal.