International comparison of research and development in the telecommunications field

Abstract

Differing national R and D policies and distinct regulations and market structures in the telecommunications sector have created R and D systems that look quite different from each other. This in the past was sustainable because of the relatively isolated situation of each national market. Liberalisation of the telecommunications markets, however, brings pressure on the old national divisions of labour in R and D. In all countries the government is - directly - involved in the telecommunications R and D System. In the USA, France and the UK, the governments finance R and D for communications equipment for military use which may have spill-over effects to equipment for civil use. In Germany, Japan and the UK, the government finances R and D programs directly oriented towards civil telecommunications. Overall, the shares of civil government money for telecommunications R and D is relatively small in all countries. Carriers havea particularly strong influence on R and D in France, the USA and Japan. It is relatively weak in Germany. Due to different R and D policies of the national carriers equipment manufacturers have to bear very different R and D costs. As long as the national equipment markets were closed this had no consequences. Carriers which did not financed R and D directly had to pay for it (indirectly) with the price of the equipment. The liberalization of the carriers equipment markets changes the situation and the distinct R and D systems become a problem for fair competition in the equipment market. Some harmonization of R and D financing will be precondition for any further liberalization of the carriers equipment market in the European Community.