National telecommunications regulators (in Australia this means the ACMAand the ACCC) ensure that telecommunications operators conform to appropriatetechnical standards and are subject to the rigors of competition. There are goodcareer paths for women and one finds very competent women at all levels of manyregulators. While telecommunications regulation has not traditionally been seen as acareer for engineers, most regulators would benefit from having greater engineeringexpertise.In this presentation, Leith Campbell will describe some of his experiences inconsulting to telecommunications regulators in Australia, Asia and the MiddleEast over the past 6 years. He will note the ongoing roles held by women in manyregulators. He will sketch what regulators do and explain how a good backgroundin engineering would be beneficial in a “non-traditional” area, namely economic costmodelling.