IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/telpol/v40y2016i8p791-803.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Competing against yourself: State duopoly in the Luxembourg telecommunications industry

Author

Listed:
  • Binsfeld, Nico
  • Whalley, Jason
  • Pugalis, Lee

Abstract

The Luxembourgish telecommunications market, not too dissimilar to many other advanced industrial countries around the world, is undergoing a process of market liberalisation. However, there are some particular features of Luxembourg’s ‘informed follower’ mode of market liberalisation, which are sociospatially distinct and therefore warrant investigation. In particular, the government of Luxembourg has sought to proactively intervene in the direct provision of telecommunications services, in the form of two competing but 100% state-owned operators, whilst simultaneously supporting market liberalisation. An understanding of the role of the state in this process is clarified through the conceptual lens of the state as policy-maker, regulator and operator. Through examining the multiple roles performed by the Luxembourgish state in the wider context of the EU telecommunications reform packages, the paper reveals the competitive tension that exists between each of the different arms of the state, that is, between POST and Luxconnect. The paper critically appraises the intertwining decisions, factors and considerations that led to this state-controlled duopoly and analyses the outcomes to date of attempts to liberalise the telecommunications market as well. This analysis of the geographical and historical complexity of the Luxembourgish telecommunications sector helps to reveal the powerful role of the state in market liberalisation.

Suggested Citation

  • Binsfeld, Nico & Whalley, Jason & Pugalis, Lee, 2016. "Competing against yourself: State duopoly in the Luxembourg telecommunications industry," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(8), pages 791-803.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:telpol:v:40:y:2016:i:8:p:791-803
    DOI: 10.1016/j.telpol.2015.06.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308596115000841
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.telpol.2015.06.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. -, 2013. "The digital economy for structural change and equality," Libros y Documentos Institucionales, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 35954 edited by Eclac.
    2. Jos� M. Alonso & Judith Clifton & Daniel Díaz-Fuentes & Marcos Fernández-Guti�rrez & Julio Revuelta, 2013. "The race for international markets: Were privatized telecommunications incumbents more successful than their public counterparts?," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(2), pages 215-236, March.
    3. Lestage, Romain & Flacher, David & Kim, Yeonbae & Kim, Jihwan & Kim, Yunhee, 2013. "Competition and investment in telecommunications: Does competition have the same impact on investment by private and state-owned firms?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 41-50.
    4. Bortolotti, Bernardo & D'Souza, Juliet & Fantini, Marcella & Megginson, William L., 0. "Privatization and the sources of performance improvement in the global telecommunications industry," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(5-6), pages 243-268, June.
    5. Nucciarelli, Alberto & Sadowski, Bert M. & Achard, Paola O., 2010. "Emerging models of public-private interplay for European broadband access: Evidence from the Netherlands and Italy," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 513-527, October.
    6. Waverman, Leonard & Koutroumpis, Pantelis, 2011. "Benchmarking telecoms regulation - The Telecommunications Regulatory Governance Index (TRGI)," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 450-468, June.
    7. Henten, Anders & Falch, Morten, 2014. "The future of telecom regulation: The case of Denmark," 25th European Regional ITS Conference, Brussels 2014 101404, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    8. Melody, William H, 1997. "On the meaning and importance of 'independence' in telecom reform," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 195-199, April.
    9. Ruhle, Ernst-Olav & Brusic, Igor & Kittl, Jörg & Ehrler, Matthias, 2011. "Next Generation Access (NGA) supply side interventions—An international comparison," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 794-803.
    10. Srinuan, Chalita & Bohlin, Erik, 2011. "Understanding the digital divide: A literature survey and ways forward," 22nd European Regional ITS Conference, Budapest 2011: Innovative ICT Applications - Emerging Regulatory, Economic and Policy Issues 52191, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    11. Kenji KUSHIDA & Jonathan MURRAY & John ZYSMAN, 2012. "The Gathering Storm: Analyzing the Cloud Computing Ecosystem and Implications for Public Policy," Communications & Strategies, IDATE, Com&Strat dept., vol. 1(85), pages 63-85, 1st quart.
    12. Bauer, Johannes M., 0. "Regulation, public policy, and investment in communications infrastructure," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(1-2), pages 65-79, February.
    13. Reggi, Luigi & Scicchitano, Sergio, 2014. "Are EU regional digital strategies evidence-based? An analysis of the allocation of 2007–13 Structural Funds," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 530-538.
    14. Johannes M. Bauer, 2005. "Regulation and state ownership: conflicts and complementarities in eu telecommunications," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(2), pages 151-177, June.
    15. Holmes, Peter & Young, Alasdair R., 2002. "Liberalizing and Re-Regulating Telecommunications in Europe: A Common Framework and Persistent Differences," HWWA Discussion Papers 159, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWA).
    16. Ragoobar, Tricia & Whalley, Jason & Harle, David, 2011. "Public and private intervention for next-generation access deployment: Possibilities for three European countries," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 827-841.
    17. Judith Clifton & Francisco Com�n & Daniel D�az-Fuentes, 2011. "From national monopoly to multinational corporation: How regulation shaped the road towards telecommunications internationalisation," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(5), pages 761-781, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Binsfeld, Nico & Whalley, Jason & Pugalis, Lee, 2016. "Competing through e-skills: Luxembourg and its second level digital divide," 27th European Regional ITS Conference, Cambridge (UK) 2016 148660, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bauer, Johannes M. & Shim, Woohyun, 2012. "Regulation and digital innovation: Theory and evidence," 23rd European Regional ITS Conference, Vienna 2012 60364, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    2. Rendon Schneir, Juan & Xiong, Yupeng, 2016. "A cost study of fixed broadband access networks for rural areas," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(8), pages 755-773.
    3. Jayakar, Krishna & Martin, Brandie, 2012. "Regulatory governance in African telecommunications: Testing the resource curse hypothesis," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 691-703.
    4. Xia, Jun, 2012. "Competition and regulation in China's 3G/4G mobile communications industry—Institutions, governance, and telecom SOEs," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 503-521.
    5. Xia, Jun, 2012. "Reprint of: Competition and regulation in China's 3G/4G mobile communications industry—Institutions, governance, and telecom SOEs," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 798-816.
    6. Garrone, Paola & Zaccagnino, Michele, 2015. "Seeking the links between competition and telecommunications investments," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 388-405.
    7. Gerli, Paolo & Wainwright, David & Whalley, Jason, 2017. "Infrastructure investment on the margins of the market: The role of niche infrastructure providers in the UK," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(9), pages 743-756.
    8. Mohammed Ali Ahmed Al-Sharafi & Shu Tong & Abdullah Aloqab, 2021. "The Effective Role of Internal Factors on Reconstructing Telecom Companies: The Case of Yemen Telecom," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-23, February.
    9. Fabian Queder, 2020. "Towards a vertically separated broadband infrastructure: The potential role of voluntary separation," Competition and Regulation in Network Industries, , vol. 21(2), pages 143-165, June.
    10. Tyce, Matthew, 2020. "Beyond the neoliberal-statist divide on the drivers of innovation: A political settlements reading of Kenya’s M-Pesa success story," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    11. Cheung, Zeerim & Aalto, Eero & Nevalainen, Pasi, 2020. "Institutional Logics and the Internationalization of a State-Owned Enterprise: Evaluation of International Venture Opportunities by Telecom Finland 1987–1998," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(6).
    12. Rajabiun, Reza & Middleton, Catherine, 2013. "Regulation, investment and efficiency in the transition to next generation networks: Evidence from the European Union," 24th European Regional ITS Conference, Florence 2013 88536, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    13. Gerli, Paolo & Van der Wee, Marlies & Verbrugge, Sofie & Whalley, Jason, 2018. "The involvement of utilities in the development of broadband infrastructure: A comparison of EU case studies," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(9), pages 726-743.
    14. Díaz, Gonzalo Ruiz, 2022. "Private participation in government-led backbone network projects: Lessons from three Latin American experiments," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(8).
    15. Landoni, Matteo & ogilvie, dt, 2019. "Convergence of innovation policies in the European aerospace industry (1960–2000)," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 174-184.
    16. Binsfeld, Nico & Whalley, Jason & Pugalis, Lee, 2014. "Luxembourg a bastion of state ownership," 25th European Regional ITS Conference, Brussels 2014 101425, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    17. Foronda-Robles, C. & Galindo-Pérez-de-Azpillaga, L., 2021. "Territorial intelligence in rural areas: The digitization of non-profit associations through social media," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    18. Nucciarelli, Alberto & Castaldo, Angelo & Conte, Elisabetta & Sadowski, Bert, 2013. "Unlocking the potential of Italian broadband: Case studies and policy lessons," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 955-969.
    19. Beltrán, Fernando, 2014. "Fibre-to-the-home, high-speed and national broadband plans: Tales from Down Under," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 715-729.
    20. Howell, Bronwyn & Sadowski, Bert, 2014. "Anatomy of a Public-Private Partnership: Hold-up and regulatory risk in an NGN PPP," 20th ITS Biennial Conference, Rio de Janeiro 2014: The Net and the Internet - Emerging Markets and Policies 106872, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:telpol:v:40:y:2016:i:8:p:791-803. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30471/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.