FCC organizational structure and regulatory convergence

Convergence of information industries has led to the emergence of services that cross industry boundaries. Changes in these industries have caused the organization of regulatory institutions to become inadequate. An exploratory analysis of orders issued by bureaus of the US Federal Communications Commission shows overlap in the issues on which each provides rulings. Rather than organizing into traditional industries such as common carrier, cable, and mass media, bureaus could be re-organized into functions such as oversight of rates, spectrum allocation, and universal service provision. Using theories of bureaucracy and organization, this paper proposes an explanation for the difficulties that the FCC has had in adapting to converging information industries. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.