Excellence without competition. The German Telephone Network, 1919-1939

Today excellence and the lack of competition seem to be contradictory, but this contribution provides one example of it. After a brief tour d'horizon, placing the German telephone network in the interwar period (our example) in its context, the reasons for its excellence are explained. For this Thomas Hughes's theory of large technical system is improved by two more parameters, policy and the legal framework. Our evaluation shows excellence was achieved through several factors acting simultaneously. One was the self-understanding of the employees to provide the best possible service. Their commitment was based on a feeling of representing a social and technical elite, which entailed obligations. A second factor was the kind of regulation the Reichspost had to respond to. It allowed the system to operate fairly like a private enterprise, applying, for instance a PPP as an additional source of quantitative and qualitative growth. A third factor was a close cooperation between the telephone network and private industry.