As policy-makers and regulators across the globe rewrite their laws and regulations to allow competition in their telecommunication sectors, they are encountering a problem: Incumbents have a massive head start in the market. Existing network operators have had decades – if not more than a century – to install plant and equipment and provide services to the public. Not only are their networks large – and in the case of industrialized countries, often comprehensive – but they have established working systems for marketing, customer service, billing and collection that must be viewed as powerful competitive assets.