Governing information infrastructures and services in telecommunications

Simpson, S

Abstract

Purpose – Telecommunications comprises a vital component of information infrastructures and services, with a historically strong public interest dimension. For the best part of 30 years, the telecommunications sector in Europe has been the subject of a radical reorganisation in structural and operational terms along the lines of neo-liberalism. This paper aims to analyse the significance of the neo-liberal project in telecommunications in respect of the related dimensions of ideology and practice.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a public policy critique of the manifestation of neo-liberalism in the telecommunications sector in the European Union, employing desk-based research on relevant primary and secondary source documentation.

Findings – The paper finds that proponents of neo-liberalism have been able to secure the broad acceptance of neo-liberalism as a “view of the world” for telecommunications. It shows that in practice, however, the neo-liberal model in telecommunications provides evidence of a less than efficacious adoption process in three respects: neo-liberalism requires an elaborately managed system the regulatory burden of which has been under-emphasised; the normative success of neo-liberalism has masked how difficult it has actually proven to be to create competition; the preoccupation with markets and competition has resulted in de-emphasis of public interest issues in telecommunications.

Originality/value – This paper contributes up-to-date knowledge of the nature and effects of neo-liberalism in the European telecommunication sector. It provides a challenge and counterweight to the “received wisdom” that neo-liberalism has been an overwhelmingly successful approach to the re-ordering of European telecommunications.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2010
• Deposit Date: Dec 7, 2010
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Journal: Aslib Proceedings
• Print ISSN: 0001-253X
• Publisher: Emerald
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 62
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 46
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/00012531011015190
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00012531011015190