Encouraging infrastructure competition via the ladder of investment

Recent discussion of regulatory interventions in telecommunications markets have considered an approach in which competitors are encouraged progressively to make investments in network assets which are less and less easily replicable-thus climbing 'the ladder of investment.' The paper proposes and illustrates methods for assessing the replicability of different assets and sets out the steps which regulators can follow in implementing the approach. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.