Telecommunications In Europe

Telecommunications have become the information highways of an increasingly service-based economy. With the acceleration of changes in technology and applications, they have begun to transform the traditional system of monopoly and its PTT administrations, giant institutions that have received little academic attention. This book, like its companion volume, Television in Europe, deals with the rise and decline of powerful monopolies in the telecommunications field, and dramatic changes that began to take place in the late 1980s. This book is the first comprehensive attempt to address the complicated economic and policy issues of European telecommunications. It describes the historical context in which national state-owned telecommunications monopolies emerged throughout Europe, explores the dynamics of change, and analyzes the forces which continue to transform the traditional PTT system. The discussion covers equipment supply, emerging value-added networks, and new telecommunications-related services within the framework of a detailed country-by-country analysis. It also explores over-arching issues which present special dilemmas for a Europe embarked on economic unification. This highly accessible and comprehensive study will be of interest to students and professionals in the areas of communications, economics, regulatory law, telecommunications engineering, media, and political science.

Telecommunications represents one of the largest high technology equipment and service industries in the world. Today there is growing support within the telecommunications industry for competition domestically and in world trade which is directly at odds with its distinctive political tradition of monopoly provision and minimally competitive international trade practices. This raises major questions, both for emerging public policy and for theorists concerned with the making of public policy. This particularly true for Europe, the focus of this study, where the reform of the telecommunications sector has proven one of the most vexing issues confronting the unification of the European Common Market. Noam's book is the first major attempt to address the complicated economic and policy issues of telecommunications in Europe. He provides a thorough discussion of the evolution of central telephone networks, equipment supply, new value-added networks, and new telecommunications-related services within the framework of a detailed country by country analysis. This highly accessible and comprehensive study will be of interest to students and professionals in the areas of communications, economics, and political science.