The liberalization of telephone services in the UK 1

This chapter shows how the telecommunications market in the United Kingdom has been progressively opened over the eleven years from 1981 to the end of 1992. By analysing the development of the regulatory framework over a decade we hope to show that further substantial modification is still required and, more important, to indicate what kind of reforms are needed. During this period, a principal aim of the Government’s policy has been to promote effective competition in the provision of telecommunication services. We focus on competition in voice telephony, which accounts for over 80 per cent of the market, measured by revenues.