Role of the state in infrastructure provisioning from 1880s to World War I: telecommunications infrastructure in Europe

The telecommunications industry, as provider of essential infrastructure, generator of welfare and promoter of freedom of speech, has experienced a series of dramatic changes since its beginnings in the late 19th century. Being initially a sector with a wide range of different forms and structure types, telecommunications have gradually developed into a public-owned industry without competition. However, in the past several decades, following the latest liberalisation and privatisation wave worldwide, the telecommunications industry has become an increasingly dynamic environment with a great potential for further growth. Nevertheless, in many countries the state has asserted its strong position within the sector regardless of the proceeding liberalisation process. Against this backdrop, the aim of the paper is to investigate the role of the state in the provisioning and financing process regarding telecommunications infrastructure in Europe from a cross-temporal perspective. To answer this question a cross-country analysis will be applied by comparing different political and institutional patterns across the European Union. By investigating telecommunications infrastructure projects across time periods, the paper aims at identifying different industrial structures that have emerged within the industry at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century and, hence, analysing the corresponding role the central authority had played in providing telecommunications services.