Abstract
The shift towards a liberal regime within European telecommunications is tied intimately into the development of the information society across the continent. The rise of market forces across telecommunications (as well as increasingly related sectors such as IT and content) has created an interface between corporate strategy and public policy that is driving widespread socioeconomic change. The Commission’s aim is to use the public policy/corporate strategy interface to build the information society based on a pluralist platform reflecting its liberal-driven development agenda. However this pluralist strategy understated the aggressiveness (in both political and economic terms) with which incumbents sought to defend their respective positions. As a result, doubts emerged over the viability and practicality of the liberal approach. This concern has been compounded by the slump in telecommunications in the late 1990s and the uncertainties and instability within corporate strategy that it created. Thus the development of TENs in telecoms stands at a crossroads between the desire for a market-driven approach and the need to utilise incumbents to deliver the information society. This will involve a need to control and reward these incumbents which has implications for the policy/corporate strategy interface.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Berben, C. and Clements, B. (1995) ‘The European framework for competition in telecommunications: the benefits for peripheral countries’, Telecommunications Policy, 19(4): 273–83.
Berhin, D., Frédéric Godar, F., Joliès, M. and Nihoul, P. (2005) ‘Sector-specific regulation in European electronic communications — meant to disappear?’ Info: the Journal of Policy, Regulation and Strategy for Telecommunications, Information and Media, 7(1): 4–20.
Carlberg, R. (2001) ‘The persistence of the dirigiste model: wireless spectrum allocation in Europe a la francaise’, Indiana Law Journal, 54(1): 129–64.
Commission of the European Communities (CEC) (1998) The Competitiveness of European Enterprises in the face of globalisation — How can it be encouraged, COM(98) 718.
Commission of the European Communities (CEC) (2002) Towards the Full Roll-Out of Third Generation Mobile Communications, COM(2002) 301 final, Brussels.
Commission of the European Communities (CEC) (2003) Electronic Communications: the Road to the Knowledge Economy, COM(2003) 65 final, Brussels.
Commission of the European Communities (CEC) (2004a) Connecting Europe at High Speed: National Broadband Strategies, SEC(2004) 599, Brussels.
Commission of the European Communities (CEC) (2004b) Connecting Europe at high speed: recent developments in the sector of electronic communications, COM (2004) 61 final, Brussels.
Commission of the European Communities (CEC) (2004c) Mobile Broadband Services, COM(2004) 447 final, Brussels.
Commission of the European Communities (CEC) (2005) Broadband access in the EU: situation at 1 January 2005, COM(2005) 12 final, Brussels.
Commission of the European Communities (CEC) (2006) European Electronic Communications Regulation and Markets 2005, COM(2006) 68 final, Brussels.
Daßler, T. and Parker, D. (2004) ‘Harmony or disharmony in the regulation and the promotion of competition in EU telecommunications? A survey of the regulatory offices’, Utilities Policy, 12(1): 9–28.
de Bijl, P. and Peitz, M. (2005) ‘Local Loop Unbundling in Europe: Experience, Prospects and Policy Challenges’, Communications & Strategies, Issue 57, 1st quarter: 33–59.
The Economist (2002) The Great telecoms Crash, 18 July 2002, www.economist.com.
European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA) (2003) ECTA Sustainable Broadband position, www.ectaportal.com.
European Telecommunications Network Operators (ETNO) (2000a) Reflection Document on the ‘Draft EU Regulation on Unbundled Access to the Local Loop COM (2000) 394’.
European Telecommunications Network Operators (ETNO (2000b) Reflection Document on ‘The Commission Recommendation on Local Loop Unbundling (Working Document 09.02.2000)’ www.etno.be.
Financial Times (2001a) Glorious hopes on a trillion-dollar scrapheap: The Telecoms Crash-Part I, 5 Sept 2001, p.12.
Financial Times (2001b) How the world caught net fever: The Telecoms Crash — Part II, 7 Sept 2001, p.12.
Financial Times (2001c) The tangled legacy of a derailed revolution: The Telecoms Crash — Part III, 8 Sept 2001, p.13.
Financial Times (2006) A two speed internet? Why network operators are flexing their muscles, 29 March 2006, p.15.
Fransmann, M. (2002) Telecoms in the Internet Age: From Boom to Bust to … ? Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gabelmann, A. (2001) Regulating European telecommunications markets: unbundled access to the local loop outside urban areas’, Telecommunications Policy, 25(10–11): 729–41.
Garnham, N. (1997) ‘Europe and the Global Information Society: the history of a troubled relationship’, Telematics and Informatics, 14(4): 323–7.
Janisch, H. (2003) ‘Telecommunications in turmoil’ Conference on ‘Competition, Pricing and Natural Monopoly: Taking Stock of Network Industries’, Centre for Innovation Law and Policy, University of Toronto, 23 May 2003.
Jordana, J. (ed.) (2002) Governing Telecommunications and the New Information Society in Europe, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Larouche, P. (2000) Competition Law and Regulation in European Telecommunications, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Liikanen, E. (2002) ‘The eEurope Broadband Strategy’, The European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association (ETNO) Conference ‘Making Broadband Happen in Europe’, Brussels, 3 December 2002.
Mansell, R. (1993) The New Telecommunications: A Political Economy of Network Evolution, Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Melody, W.H. (1996) ‘Toward a framework for designing information society policies’, Telecommunications Policy, 20(4): 243–59.
Natalicchi, G. (2001) Wiring Europe: Reshaping the European Telecommunications Regime, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Noam, E. (1992) Telecommunications in Europe, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Noam, E. and De Sola Pool, I. (eds) (1980) Technologies with Boundaries: On Telecommunications in a Global Age, Boston, MA: Harvard University Press.
Preston, P. (1995) ‘Competition in the telecommunications infrastructure: implications for the peripheral regions and small countries in Europe’, Telecommunications Policy, 19(4): 253–71.
Rutherford, J., Gillespie, A. and Richardson, R. (2004) ‘The territoriality of pan-European telecommunications backbone networks’, Journal of Urban Technology, 11(3): 1–34.
Ure, J. (2003) ‘Competition in the local loop: unbundling or unbungling?’ Info: the Journal of Policy, Regulation and Strategy for Telecommunications, Information and Media, 5(5): 38–47.
Waverman, L. and Sirel, E. (1997) ‘European telecommunications markets on the verge of full liberalization’, The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 11(4): 113–26.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2007 D. Johnson, C. Turner
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Johnson, D., Turner, C. (2007). Trans-European Telecommunication Networks. In: Strategy and Policy for Trans-European Networks. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230210660_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230210660_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-52164-7
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-21066-0
eBook Packages: Palgrave Business & Management CollectionBusiness and Management (R0)