An Analysis on the Universal Services Policy of Major Developed countries and Improvement Direction in Korea

주요선진국의 보편적 서비스 정책분석과 우리나라의 개선방향

Universal service policy is the core of telecommunications policy and, therefore, in many countries, governments have been accomplished universal service as the critical goal of telecommunications policy. In the past when the market was under monopoly, the monopolist had the responsibility of supplying for universal service, whereas supply cost complemented through internal assistance. From 1998 when WTO basic telecommunications negotiation took effect, however, telecommunications markets fully opened, it was impossible to supply of universal service under the past system. Therefore, governments of major countries are trying to renew laws and institutions for policies compatible with competition environments. In this paper, I analyse and compare major countries' policies for the universal services and try to find out policy implication for Korea.