Telecommunications in Central and Eastern Europe : Similarities, peculiarities and trends of change in the countries of transition

The paper overviews the current state and modernization strategies of telecommunications in Central and Eastern European countries comprising Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria. In the mid-1990s telephone density is relatively low; advanced telecommunications services are scarcely established. However, the significance of telecommunications is recognized, and therefore intensive expansion and modernization plans have been formed and a change of the legislative environment is in process. The main intention of the paper is to summarize the general features and trends in Central and Eastern European telecommunications and to derive from the experiences a possible way to harmonize the responsibilities for basic telecommunication services and the expectations for business-oriented operation.