Modernizing Telecommunications in Central and Eastern Europe: A Business Perspective

The telecommunications infrastructure of Central and Eastern Europe is underdeveloped not only in comparison with leading Western countries, but also in comparison with the networks of the dynamic threshold countries of South East Asia. This underdevelopment is dangerous, since telecommunications are a key factor for success in global economic competition - nowadays to a larger extent than ever before. Even for countries enjoying much more favourable economic circumstances, it sometimes took 10–15 years to bring the main line density from a level of 13 per 100 inhabitants - which can be taken as a starting point comparable to that of many Eastern countries around 1989–1990 - to 30 main lines per 100 inhabitants, the minimum of what is today acceptable. However, the examples of France and South Korea show that such a progress can be made within 5–6 years as well (see Tab. E1).