The impact of EC communications policy in portugal

Abstract

This paper is about the impact of the EC communications policy in Portugal. Although this small country has traditionally kept itself independent from other Western states, a lot has changed since its entry into the European Community. Immediately after 1986, Portugal was pushed to change its telecommunications and broadcasting policies, according to the primary goals of the EC. First, it started deregulating the telecommunications sector; later, it open up two TV channels to private capital. Apparently, Portugal is following a widespread tendency towards liberalization. However, we will argue that Portugal will not substantially benefit from this new regulatory framework. EC policies are designed to favour countries with a large manufacturing industry and with an efficient services sector (e.g. Germany and France). The impact of EC communications programmes for less favoured regions (Star, Telematic, Media, etc) is very small compared with the potential profits of big European manufacturers, telecommunications operators and programme producers.