EUROPE ONP BARGAIN - WHATS IN IT FOR THE USER

Open Network Provision (ONP) is characterized as an institutionalized collective bargaining process in which the interests of the telecommun ications user in Europe have often been overlooked. This article exami nes how the practical measures put in place by the ONP process have ad dressed user interests. Second, it asks how users have influenced the direction of the ONP process, particularly with regard to the proposed Voice Telephony Directive and, finally, it asks how ONP will meet the needs of the user in the future. It argues that the ONP bargain shoul d be shifted from the Community level to the marketplace itself, allow ing experience to necessitate regulation, rather than regulation to di ctate experience.