ice. These forms of access do not necessarily require creating new systems to measure network traffic, because the network must necessarily have some basis for metering customer usage already in place. Under interconnection access, in contrast, traffic is handed off at nonterminal points in the core of the network. It thus requires the network to create new systems for metering usage at points that it would not otherwise measure. As the debate about bill and keep demonstrates, the transaction costs of creating such intermediate metering systems can be quite substantial. Furthermore, as discussed in Chapter 2, decisions about network capacity and configuration depend on detailed information about the magnitude, patterns, and variability of network demand. Accurate information about these parameters is essential if network owners are to calibrate total capacity and configure their net- works in a way that preserves reliability and cost-effectiveness. Under both retail and wholesale access, all of the traffic flows remain under the control of the network owner. The same is not true under interconnection access. The fact that traffic will originate and terminate outside the network means that the network owner will not have available all of the information needed to make these decisions. The inability to observe all of the necessary information greatly increases the transaction costs of network management under interconnection access. The problem becomes even more difficult after one recognizes that networks must depend upon their com- petitors for that information. Imposition of interconnection access thus guarantees that networks will have to incur substantial transaction costs when obtaining and verifying information about network flows. 4. Platform Access Platform access also requires the incurring of substantial transaction costs. Before one can compel a network owner to adhere to certain standards, those standards must be established either by the government, an industry consortium, or an ISO. The process of es