Regulação de indústrias de rede: entre flexibilidade e estabilidade

1Regulation of network industries: between flexibility and stability. This paper explores the problems of an unstable regulatory regime in network industries and addresses the tension between the necessary flexibility in the long-term regulatory commitment and the need for institutional stability. A draft statute that substantively changes the initial terms under which fixed telecommunications services have been transferred to private companies — currently under discussion in the Brazilian Congress — is presented as an example of that tension. Some alternative proposals to tackle with universal service challenges — the underlying problem behind the mentioned draft statute — are presented in the end.