Universal service in the European Union

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Abstract

Since the late 1980s, the European Union (EU) has pursued a program of comprehensive telecommunications liberalization. The increased reliance on competition necessitated the establishment of explicit universal service policies. European universal service policies define the scope and cost of universal service as well as permissible funding mechanisms. Emphasizing competition over social goals, the EU has adopted a rather narrow version of universal service. Future revisions may provide an opportunity to adopt a more ambitious universal service model.

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  • Cited by (16)

    • Should next generation access networks fall within the scope of universal service? A European union perspective

      2014, Government Information Quarterly
      Citation Excerpt :

      In the theoretical discussion on USO in the European Union, it has been shown that the drivers of information access in the European Union have shifted in the 1990s from a monopolistic to a competitive environment in which problems of convergence have to be addressed. For example, Bauer (1999) showed that emerging competition in infrastructures and services requires a reconsideration of these obligations. In his work, he criticized the narrow approach of European institutions in defining the borders of universal service, arguing that the definition of universal service in the late 1990s has been limited in addressing only a “minimum set of safeguards for basic services and constrained the ability of member states to fund such programs” (Bauer, 1999).

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