ABSTRACT
Since the beginning of 1998 the established telephone system operators in Europe have been exposed for the first time in their history to competition in their core business, i.e. voice telephony. This means that they must be more efficient and show more consideration to their customers, as citizens now have the choice of accessing the most efficient, reliable and reasonably priced operator. The new competition is expected to bring jobs, growth and innovation to the citizens of EU countries. However, many of the traditional telephone administrations, not only in Europe but all around the world, are now collapsing, pushed by political, technical as well as social forces. The political forces lie in deregulation and privatisation based on a free-market ideology. Liberalisation is there to pave the way for the information society of the next millennium. Even if liberalisation is dictated by economic common sense, the tremendous technical and technological achievements within telecommunication and computer systems have, to a major extent, pushed this development.
