1980s: convergence. some argue it was the word of the 80s as boundaries separating local and long distance, voice and data, cable and telephone, and wire-line and wireless services eroded.“ (jonathan aronson, "the communications and internet revolution", oxford 2001)

globalizing communication economy, started by thatcher and reagen's deregulation policy, paved the way in the 1980s. somehow, if one ignores finland's telecom policy ...

uruguay round of trade negotiations in the GATT (1994, also holds TRIPs) as well as the WTO agreement on basic telecommunications services (15th of feb. 1997) might be important docs to look at, aronson suggests.

also of interest: un millenium development goal: innovation and investment; information and communication, 2005 (pdf)

fear the following questions , raised in 2001 by aronson still lack an answer:

1) Why did economists and countries traditionally decide that the monopoly provision of telecom services made more sense than competition in the provision of telecom services?

2) Why did policy-makers start to promote competition and reduce regulation in the provision for communication and information services during the 1980s and 1990s?

3) When the GATT/WTO got involved with trade in telecommunications services how do you expect that the ITU reacted to the trespassing on their turf?