CABLE SYSTEMS, TELEPHONY AND LOCAL ECONOMIC-DEVELOPMENT IN THE UK

In the 1980s cable policy in the UK was based on the assumption that t he development of cable would be domestically financed and 'entertainm ent-led', with cable television helping to 'pull through' advanced int eractive services. in the 1990s policy makers and cable operators have discovered the much larger role that is being played by telephony in driving the development of cable. Cable is now seen as at least as imp ortant to telecommunications policy as it is to broadcasting policy. D ata on the development of cable suggest that this policy is leading to a more geographically diverse pattern of telecommunications competiti on and an increasing diversity in the price and/or quality of telecomm unication services supplied to different places. The emerging imbalanc e raises questions about the effects on patterns of urban and regional development. As currently constituted, however, the UK regulatory reg ime has no effective way of recognizing or addressing these questions.