In market-led economies, communications have a decentralized, horizontal structure. Companies must be able to communicate quickly and efficiently if they are to respond flexibly to the changing requirements of the market. The clear intention was to restrict and control the flow of information. Here, urgent messages often had to be sent by telegram and courier-hardly appropriate for the demands of international competition. Thus, telecommunications as part of the infrastructure has a considerable effect on the overall quality of a country for business and determines how attractive it is to foreign investors.
Demand is also great in the residential sector.
People are no longer willing to wait ten or more years for a telephone. Entire communities are still without telephone service at night or on weekends, because the exchanges are manual and are only operated during working hours. Thus, telephone service is also a matter of public welfare. People even die because there is no telephone with which to call the emergency services. Nevertheless, the emerging industrial nations of Southeast Asia, for example, have shown that this can be done.