TELECOMMUNICATIONS LITERATURE - A CRITICAL-REVIEW OF THE ECONOMIC, TECHNOLOGICAL AND PUBLIC-POLICY ISSUES

This article reviews the literature of economic, technological and public policy issues regarding telecommunications. The purpose of this article can best be captured by a question: why are the telecommunications sectors of industrialized countries, and particularly the international networks that link those countries, of such interest and importance to economic theory and policy? The author synthesizes the major economic insights into telecommunications by taking into account specified features of the subject matter and its associated scholarly literature. Particular weight is given to work that has helped to establish a suitable theoretical, methodological, empirical and policy framework and that suggests the most promising ways in which future research topics and techniques can build upon the results to date.