Europa en marcha hacia la Sociedad de la Información: Principales hitos históricos del proceso de liberalización de las telecomunicaciones en la Unión Europea en los 90

Abstract

Until the end of the eighty decade, the European telecommunications sector was developing basically around the phone services and television diffusion. The main operator´s mission consisted on extending the service to the whole population (universal service). The telecommunications sector was strongly intervened by the authorities (telephone and TV were considered essential services), and this activities, mainly telephony, generated strong revenues that justified their monopoly (natural telecommunications monopoly). During the ninety decade the European Union decided to liberalize this strategic sector, establishing an extensive telecommunications market, with competitive industrial structures and advanced services in a globalized world. The European Union would like to transform the telecommunications sector into the core of the European Information Society.