A comparison of the United States and European policies for the development of the United States Information Superhighway and the European Information Society

The dissertation examines the domestic policies which, respectively, were pursued by the American and the European governments in the development of the infrastructures for the U.S. Information Superhighway and the European Information Society. The international climate of telecommunications was examined as was the political anguish experienced by the United States which sought to reduce a U.S.{dollar}4 billion annual trade imbalance in telecommunications traffic. Also examined are the relationships which the relevant agencies of the United States developed with foreign governments and the international bodies responsible for coordinating international telecommunications. Analyzed are the conditions which led and surrounded the divestiture of AT&T in 1982, its breakup in 1984 and the creation of the seven Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) which controlled the local telephone networks. The conditions imposed on the RBOCs, Consent Decree, are discussed and how the companies sought to free themselves from the restrictions imposed on them---information services, long distance, manufacturing and non-telephone business. Also discussed is the political climate which developed some ten years after the divestiture which sought to free the RBOCs from the restrictions of the Consent Decree and transform the U.S. into the most competitively driven telecommunications market in the world. Cable television was the subject of two pieces of legislation discussed in the research. The first Cable Act 1984 deregulated cable and effectively created a fiefdom of monopoly franchises. The second, in 1992, attempted to curb the industry from rate abuses. The success of the Internet inspired thinking in international multimedia network terms. A new political climate resulted in the passage of telecommunications legislation at the beginning of February 1996. The telephone industry--long distance and local--and that of cable television would all be open to competition. That was a significant step in creating the U.S. Information Superhighway, as discussed.; In Europe, the European Economic Commission (EEC) sought to free its telecommunications from the control of the government agencies--Postal, Telephone and Telegraph (PTTs). The Commission published its Green Paper on telecommunications in 1987 which set the political agenda for competition in European telecommunications. The privatization of British Telecom, in 1984, gave impetus to the Commission's policies. The policies adopted to create the infrastructure for Europe's Information Society are examined and, where relevant, compared to the U.S. approach.