How do managers perceive the effects of telecommunications' liberalisation in Greece?

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perceptions of managers concerning the impact of institutional liberalisation of telecommunication industry on market functioning and business growth. The empirical analysis is based on a survey of 44 telecommunication companies operating for the period 2001 to 2009 in the Greek economy. These are the most important firms of the specific industry. The findings indicate that liberalisation causes a substantial increase of competition between public and private companies. Price policy and marketing policy are the main competition factors. However, several barriers such as difficult access to infrastructure telecommunication networks for private entrants and not sufficient compliance of the state-owned dominant company with the rules of healthy competition hamper competition seriously. Overall, the managers of the sample firms reveal the evolution of the private sector and the new 'business atmosphere' in the Greek telecommunication industry as a result of liberalisation and privatisation policies which are becoming very acute in Greece to face the current crisis.