The Debate on Telecommunications Policy Since the Middle of the Seventies

Abstract

In Germany telecommunications has right from the beginning been considered to be a matter of the state. This was in part due to the military potential of telecommunications (the telegraph at that time) and in part to the fact that the postal service was already a state monopoly. The telegraph service and the postal services were considered to be sufficiently similar to be operated under one roof. Ironically, another reason for this arrangement was the high profitability of the postal services, which allowed for the cross-subsidization of the telegraph and later the telephone. Today the cross-subsidies run in the opposite direction. (For these historical aspects see HERRMANN, 1986)