STAR and Economic Regeneration: Some Feedback from Northern Ireland

Reports recent work on the impact of the European STAR programme on the process of economic regeneration in Northern Ireland. Seeks to draw lessons from the Northern Ireland experience which may be applied elsewhere. Reports responses among the business community to the STAR programme and in particular the impact of the fibre opticbased transmission and switching facilities it has provided. In considering the overall impact of STAR on the job market, comparisons are drawn with elsewhere in the UK. The main conclusion is that in promoting the virtues of advanced telecommunications services, much greater attention must be paid to the business benefits involved and also, to making facilities such as ISDN more user friendly and competitive.