Transformation of the telecommunication environment in Poland, 1989-1991.

Abstract

In the two years 1989-1991 the environment of Poland's telecommunications was fundamentally transformed. This dissertation is an exploratory case study addressing four principal aspects of that country's changing telecommunications: (1) telecommunication regime or the structure of rules in which telecommunication systems function; (2) telecommunication services, defined as the means and methods of communicating from a distance by processing and relaying an electro-magnetic signal (categorized into telephone, mobile, data-messaging, information, data-carrier, and entertainment); (3) telecommunication equipment, or markets for switching, transmission and terminal equipment; and (4) telecommunication subscribers, or principal characteristics of the customer-base in the residential, professional, rural and urban market segments. Each aspect is examined for the purpose of capturing the on-going change. The dissertation identifies the principal agents of change and maps the new conditions onto the models developed by Cowhey and Aronson. Institutional pluralism, market competition, shortage alleviation and market restructuring have transformed Poland's telecommunication environment from the scarcity model to a version of the boutique model.