Productivity Growth in the Telephone Industry Since 1984

Abstract

Over the past ten years, the U.S. telephone industry has undergone a dramatic transformation. Though not formally deregulated, the industry is no longer a tightly regulated, protected set of monopolies dominated by the largest erstwhile monopoly of them all, AT&T. Competition exists in long-distance services, customer-premises equipment, Yellow Pages, switching and transmission equipment, and — to a lesser extent — even at the local exchange.