Policy challenges in two-sided network industries

Two-sided networks have recently received a great deal of attention both from academics and policy makers. This is not surprising, because some important industries such as telecommunications' networks, credit card networks, the videogames industry, computer operating systems or newspapers are all examples of such networks. Whilst the academic research is still ongoing, policy makers are faced with tough challenges. These relate to regulatory as well as competition policy decisions. This paper reviews some of the most recent academic literature on the subject, and provides some guidance on how to make policy decisions in the context of such industries.