ould have major implications for energy use in the future (The Economist, May 6, 2006). The challenge of managing future change Balancing infrastructure policy objectives Public policy plays a key role in shaping infrastructure investment decision for all four types of infrastructures. However, it is highly unpredictable. One can only speculate on the direction it might take in the coming decades and its possible impact on infrastructure requirements. Regarding telecom, Bohlin et al. note that liberalisation and democratisation have had an enormous impact in the past on the ownership, structuring and operation of telecom networks, on the quality and reliability of service, on the nature and range of the offerings, and on accessibility. In INFRASTRUCTURE TO 2030: TELECOM, LAND TRANSPORT, WATER AND ELECTRICITY - ISBN 92-64-02398-4 - © OECD 2006 1. A CROSS-SECTORAL PERSPECTIVE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF GLOBAL INFRASTRUCTURES TO 2030 many countries, the move has been away from a command and control model or monopoly incumbent to a more competitive environment, including separation of service from infrastructure and the opening of infrastructure to competition. In the future, harmonisation of infrastructure standards globally will be essential, including an opening up of the radio spectrum towards more unlicensed bands and the weakening of national regulators in favour of regional regulators, with global co-ordination becoming more important. Given the convergence of content and carriage, such international co-ordination/regulation should logically extend eventually to content. However, this is likely to raise serious sovereignty issues. At the local level, the use of AWT is likely to increase, driven by municipalities. However, incumbents are expected to continue to fight a rearguard action to protect their sunk costs in existing infrastructure against the price onslaught of VoIP. It will be up to the regulators to ensure that the entry of new players is not unduly constrained by such delaying tactics, that a healthy sta