The Enduring Lessons of the Breakup of AT&T: A Twenty-Five Year Retrospective
Center for Technology, Innovation, and Competition
University of Pennsylvania Law School
April 18-19, 2008
Friday, April 18
9:00 a.m. - 9:15 a.m. Welcome
Christopher Yoo, Professor of Law and Communication and Founding Director, Center for Technology, Innovation, and Competition, University of Pennsylvania
Ronald Daniels, Provost, University of Pennsylvania
9:15 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. Looking Back at Divestiture: What Worked? What Didn’t? Watch Video
Ever since Judge Harold Greene approved the breakup of AT&T, scholars and policymakers have debated whether it represented a policy success or a policy failure. On this panel, we will hear from people who played key roles in the AT&T litigation to learn which aspects of the breakup played out as expected and which aspects emerged as surprises, both pleasant and unpleasant.
Panelists:
Roger Noll (Stanford University)
Paul MacAvoy (Yale University) - Paper
Alfred Kahn (Cornell University)
Joseph Weber (former Director of Network Architecture Planning, AT&T) - Presentation
Moderator:
Gerald Faulhaber (University of Pennsylvania)
10:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Break
11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Equal Access as the New Regulatory Paradigm: The Transition from Rate Regulation to Access Regulation Watch Video
The breakup of AT&T was a landmark in the shift away from rate regulation, which grants customers access to the entire network, toward access regulation, which grants competitors access to portions of the network. This panel will assess the success of this new regulatory paradigm, examining its workability, its impact on static and dynamic efficiency, and the extent to which it now serves as a model for other countries and other industries.
Panelists:
Glen Robinson (University of Virginia)
Tim Wu (Columbia University)
Christopher Yoo (University of Pennsylvania) - Presentation
Gerald Faulhaber (University of Pennsylvania)
Moderator:
Harold Furchtgott-Roth (Furchtgott-Roth Enterprises)
12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. Lunch Watch Video
Remarks: The Hon. Richard A. Posner, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Structural Separation in Dynamic Markets: Lessons for the Internet, Lessons for Europe Watch Video
The Microsoft antitrust case, the Verizon-MCI and SBC-AT&T mergers, and the European Commission’s review of its e-communications regulatory framework have given new importance the debate over structural separation. What lessons does the breakup of AT&T offer about the impact of structural separation, and what insights does scholarship exploring new approaches to vertical exclusion add to the debate?
Panelists:
Joseph Farrell (University of California at Berkeley)
Eli Noam (Columbia University) - Presentation
Michael Riordan (Columbia University) - Presentation
Michael Salinger (Boston University)
Moderator:
Dorothy Attwood (AT&T)
4:15 p.m. - 5:45 p.m. From the MFJ to Trinko: The Essential Facilities Doctrine and the Proper Provinces of Antitrust and Regulation Watch Video
The Supreme Court’s 2004 decision in Trinko called into question two of the MFJ’s central premises: (1) the propriety of invoking section 2 of the Sherman Act to mandate access to telecommunications networks and (2) that antitrust courts can play a constructive role in overseeing telecommunications industry. This panel will offer a range of views regarding how much room is left for antitrust courts after Trinko.
Panelists:
Daniel Spulber (Northwestern University) - Paper - Presentation
Michael Katz (New York University) - Presentation
Timothy Brennan (University of Maryland at Baltimore County) - Presentation
Howard Shelanski (University of California at Berkeley) - Presentation
Moderator:
Michael Altschul (CTIA)
6:30 p.m. Cocktails and Dinner, National Constitution Center (overlooking Independence Hall)
Saturday, April 19
9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. Regulation by Consent Decree: Lessons for Microsoft and Beyond Watch Video
Commentators have long debated the efficacy of consent decrees. Some have focused on the relative merits of structural and behavioral relief. Others have suggested that consent decrees represent a way for defendants to evade liability even when they have violated the antitrust laws. Still others suggest that consent decrees allow the government to impose liability even when no antitrust violation has occurred. Other scholars have begun to study whether the choice between litigation and settlement affects substantive outcomes. This panel will use the consent decrees settling the AT&T and the Microsoft litigation as a lens to explore all sides of these debates.
Panelists:
Richard Epstein (University of Chicago)
Daniel Rubinfeld (University of California at Berkeley)
Philip Weiser (University of Colorado) - Presentation
Robert Crandall (Brookings Institution) - Presentation
Moderator:
Luke Froeb (Vanderbilt University)
10:45 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. The Future of Intercarrier Compensation Watch Video
The breakup of AT&T is the genesis of the debate over intercarrier compensation that now overshadows the provision of both traditional telecommunications services as well as new services, such as VoIP. This panel will explore how these compensation regimes will be shaped in the future and what impact it will have on universal service.
Panelists:
Gerald Brock (George Washington University)
James Speta (Northwestern University)
Simon Wilkie (University of Southern California)
Kevin Werbach (University of Pennsylvania) - Presentation
Moderator:
Jonathan Nuechterlein (WilmerHale)
12:15 p.m. Conference Adjournment
Box lunches will be provided both all attendees. Those who must leave are welcome to take them along with them. Those who would like to spend a little more time talking with other conference participants are welcome to stay and enjoy their lunch.
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