Great expectations?: regulating for users in the United Kingdom and Australia

Abstract

Our argument is that while there are broad similarities between these two prosperous countries, with their shared historical and colonial links, and borrowings in establishment of telecommunications markets, there are some noteworthy differences in how users have fared and how industry, regulators and governments have addressed instances of market failure. We compare the UK and Australian experience in three specific areas: second-line complaints management, contrasting Australias Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman with the two approved British Alternative Dispute Resolution schemes; the architecture of self and co-regulation in telecommunications generally, especially the Communications Alliance versus the medley of relevant bodies in the UK; Internet content regulation and management, where Australia takes a more prescriptive approach to regulation than in the telecommunication area, and also than that employed in Britain. We seek to draw some conclusions from this bi-country comparison from what has worked, and what has not, in the respective models. Finally, we offer some comments on what the key issues might be in the next phase of regulating for consumers in the face of mobile, wireless and convergent IP networking.