The concept of dominance as applied in telecommunications regulation

Abstract

Telecommunications and information technologies are increasingly important in business and in social life. These new technologies allow radical changes in business organisation, improving internal efficiency, but they also offer new ways of interacting with other businesses and with customers. Making services global and making access to wider markets easier, these new technologies will have a positive impact on European employment in the service and information industry, in particular through the emergence of electronic commerce and multimedia services. Advances in technology augment the capacity of telecommunications networks - new systems and services are introduced which allow people to by-pass traditional infrastructures. There is a growing awareness in most countries that modem telecommunications systems are essential to economic progress and that these systems provide the widest advanced facilities and ranges of services where there is competition and less regulation. In advanced economies, most everyday activities in commercial and private life could not exist without efficient high speed telecommunications. The development of superhighways and multimedia applications will create significant new opportunities in the future.