ABSTRACT
In this study, we have argued that the individual policy response of each country is shaped by three independent variables to be found at different levels of analysis, namely the extra-national variable of structural forces that have an impact on the national telecommunications polity; a sectoral system variable including the composition of the domestic telecommunications industry of the three selected countries; and a national institutional variable accommodating extra-national developments with internal adjustments in the domestic telecommunications arena. The four structural forces of technological (r)evolution, newly emerging market patterns, international deregulation, and European integration, have effectively challenged the logic of a nationally oriented PTT system. An adaptation of the French, Dutch and British telecommunications sector to a new environment that is more dynamic, complex and uncertain, seems in order. The sectoral system variable refers to the structure of the domestic telecommunications sector, and the strategic choices made by dominant actors and ruling coalitions in the market place and the policy arena. This variable addresses the economic and political strength of the former PTT administration or the new Public Telecommunications Operator (PTO) vis-à-vis its favoured supplier(s), its customers (i.e. large and residential users), its (new) shareholders and last but not least, its (potential) competitors. It also includes the particular governance regime that shapes the transactions and the strategic interactions taking place between the stakeholders. The national institutional variable refers to the persistent routines, codes of conduct and rules that both constrain the policy-making process in the telecommunications domain and provide incentives to consider and act upon one particular set of strategies at the expense of other alternatives. National institutions set limitations on strategic behaviour and thereby constrain the feasibility of the various options available to the stakeholders in the domestic telecommunications field.
