s of scale need not necessarily force a network to collapse into a natural monopoly. The weakening of the natural monopoly justification associated with the reduc- tion in fixed costs has been accompanied by an increase in the demand for the services provided by telecommunications networks. The emergence of personal computing and the analog modem made it possible for subscribers to use their connections to telecommunications networks to send data as well as voice commu- nications. The increase in functionality made possible by the deployment of digital technologies has mitigated the tendency of telecommunications markets to collapse into natural monopolies by greatly increasing the demand for the network services. These analog technologies are in the process of being replaced with digital tech- nologies, such as digital subscriber lines, and by fiber optics, which are enhancing the value of the network connection still further. The increasing packetization of communications technologies is also putting pressure on the distinctions between transmission technologies, which once made sense when each medium of communications employed distinct analog encoding formats. At this point, however, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) has already made cable modem systems a viable competitor to the voice services provided by local telephone companies, and telephone companies are working hard to offer packet-based television services. The deployment of new transmission technolo- gies, such as third-generation wireless (3G), broadband over powerline, WiFi, and WiMax, will increase the competitiveness of last-mile telecommunications services. Once the shift toward packetization is complete, all forms of communications will simply be different applications traveling on the same data network, and the distinc- tions between transmission technologies that have represented the foundation of telecommunications policy since the enactment of the Communications Act of 1934 (and have sparked SO many controversies over the proper regulatory