[apologies for the size of the CC list, but I did cut it by 50% !] On Sat, 7 Feb 1998, Roberto Gaetano wrote:
May have some truth, but the deregulation in the telecom business (at least in Europe) has come from an internal process of the Telecom industry, and specifically of the Telecom operators, that adapted to the evolving market. The driving force was not a paper of some colour from some government, but market evolution. It is absolutely true that this tendency started in the US, but there was no formal action from the US Government to determine the future asset of the European Telecom.
This is highly misleading. Telecoms charges in Europe are generally high; charges between European countries are often ridiculously high. BT's tariff for a 2M line between say London and Birmingham is about the same as the charge for a DS3 over the same distance in the US. That is, bit for bit, we are charged more than 20x as much. Over international borders charges are surreal: we are quoted 20% more for a London-Paris circuit than for a London-New York circuit. The cheaper one is carried over fibre that crosses thousands of miles of open sea; the more expensive one follows the rail line between the UK and France. EuroISPA is lobbying to get telecoms charges across European borders reduced to sensible rates. The most effective argument we have is a simple comparison of European and American telecoms rates. Certainly no "internal process of the Telecom industry" has led to deregulation in Europe. Quite the contrary. The telcos are fighting tooth and nail to retain their monopolies and monopolistic price structures. -- Jim Dixon Managing Director VBCnet GB Ltd http://www.vbc.net tel +44 117 929 1316 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Member of Council President Internet Services Providers Association EuroISPA EEIG http://www.ispa.org.uk http://www.euroispa.org tel +44 171 976 0679 tel +32 2 503 22 65 -------- Logged at Sun Feb 8 17:38:19 MET 1998 ---------