Digital Deutschland: The Effects of Telecommunications Reform on the Internet in Germany
Bennion, Julie A.
2001
- Submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Abstract: This paper focuses on aspects of the German telecommunications landscape which affect the use of the Internet, and through this, Germany's ability to reach its goal of leadership in the Information Society in Europe. Telecommunications are key to the transformation ... read moreto an Internet Economy, affecting both the availability and quality of services. The first section deals with the German government's ongoing reforms to open the communications market. We start with the process of liberalization, including changes in the telecommunications law, and the privatization of the national PTT monopoly, Deutsche Telekom, and its ISP subsidiary T-Online. We continue with a look at new competitive carriers for a variety of services, and include explorations of ISDN, DSL, and cable technologies as ways to bring broadband Internet access to more Germans. We will see how the introduction of competition into the German telecom market has affected telecommunications costs including Internet access costs. Flat-rate Internet access pricing is of particular interest, and we will see if this pricing can encourage Internet use. Also discussed is the ability for the Internet economy to help alleviate unemployment, expectations for which are a major push behind German policy toward the Internet.read less
- ID:
- br86bf11f
- Component ID:
- tufts:UA015.012.DO.00004
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