Governing information infrastructures and services in telecommunications

Purpose: Telecommunications comprises a vital component of information infrastructures and services, with an 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 article analyses the significance of the neo-liberal project in telecommunications in respect of the related dimensions of ideology and practice. Approach: 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 article 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: neoliberalism 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: This article contributes up to date knowledge of the nature and effects of neoliberalism 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. Article category: research paper