ABSTRACT

Since the late 1970s, serious doubts have been cast upon the established telecommunications regime as a public monopoly in all industrial democracies. This is a result of structural developments such as technological innovation, increasing demand for competitive and specialised services, globalisation of business, international deregulation and European integration. Together with the recent moves towards harmonisation and integration of national policies into a larger European Community the question ‘Does the common challenge of technoglobal telecommunications restructuring elicit different national responses?’ has moved to the forefront of political and academic debate. This book provides a comparative study of three different European responses to the common stimulus of structural changes in the telecommunications industry.