Short description of the book:
Telecommunications is one of the most dynamic industries in the modern world, with new products and technologies appearing almost every week. As in many other industries, the last twenty years have brought extensive and far reaching liberalisation, with more and more countries opening their markets. In the last decade all but five Member States of the European Union have legislated for full opening of all market segments. The remaining five look set for further liberalisation over the next five years.

This book examines the process and consequences of telecommunications liberalisation in the context of ever closer European Union. The creation of a single market for telecommunications and of a wider European single market mirror one another. Telecommunications are also something of a test case for the privatization process, as this sector has traditionally been a state monopoly.

The volume approaches the European experience from three angles: * the politics of regulation and the process of liberalization in the EU (including case Studies of the UK, France, and Germany) * increasing global economic interdependence makes international comparisons essential, and the volume compares the EU experience with that of the Czech Republic, Israel and Thailand * the consequences of technology and continuous innovation The book includes contributions from scholars in ten countries.

Table of Content Forward by Herbert Ungerer (direcorate General for Competition, European Commission) Chapter 1: Introduction by Kjell A. Eliassen and Marit Sjovaag Part I: European Integration Chapter 2: European Telecommunications Policies: Deregulation, re-regulation or real liberalisation?, by Kjell A. Eliassen, Toby Mason and Marit Sjovaag

Chapter 3: Competing Approaches to Regulation, by Martin Lodge

Chapter 4: From PTT to NRA: Towards a New Regulatory Regime?, by Sebastian Eyre and Nick Sitter

Chapter 5: The European Union Content and Regulation in the Converged Communication Environment, by Patrizia Cincera

Part II: National Strategies in Some EU Countries

Chapter 6: Liberalisation in Britain: From Monopoly to Regulation of Competition, by Mark Thatcher

Chapter 7: Liberalisation of Telecommunications in Germany by Raymund Werle

Chapter 8: French Licensing and Interconnection, by Winston Maxwell

Part III: Liberalisation Policies Outside the EU Framework

Chapter 9: Privatization and Competition of Telecommunications Markets in Transition Countries: The Case of the Czech Republic, by Zdenek Hruby

Chapter 10: The Dynamics of Liberalisation of Israeli Telecommunications, by David Levi-Faur

Chapter 11: Privatization of Telecommunications in Thailand by Prasit Prapinmongkolkarn

Part IV: Technology and its Consequences for Industry

Chapter 12: Future Infocom Systems, by Ulf Korner

Chapter 13: The Global Mobile Market and Regulatory Aspects, by Christer Englund

Chapter 14: The Value of Systems in Telecommunications, by Oystein Fjeldstad

Chapter 15: Conclusions, by Kjell A. Eliassen and Marit Sjovaag