The public telephone network

Abstract The public telephone network is often referred to as the ‘highway’ of the information age. The advocates of investments in telecommunications infrastructure evoke the ‘highway analogy’ to underscore its social and economic importance. However, the analogy has not been developed beyond a relatively simple metaphor. In this article the ‘highway analogy’ is used as a heuristic device for model construction. The experience with transportation technologies is used to develop an abstract model for understanding the growth pattern of the emerging telecommunications technologies.

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