Description: 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.

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