Evolution of the communications industry in advanced countries: Implication for the policy direction of Korea

After the remarkable growth of the nation's communications industry during the 1980s, the Korean government has progressively introduced the competition principle to the service market. Facing the recent trend of market liberalization together with service globalization widely adopted in advanced countries, the government has now reached a turning point as regards redirecting its communications policy. This article aims to assist Korean policymakers in setting up a new policy direction. Conceptualizing the evolutionary process of the communications industry and grasping the future evolution in advanced countries will surely shed light on the path along which following countries such as Korea are going to move. Doing this work, we specifically emphasize the role of governments in following countries which is quite different from that of forerunners. With these discussions in the background, we suggest a new policy planning process for following countries and, further, go on to derive a technology-oriented globalized policy direction specifically tailored to the Korean communications industry.