Development of the telecommunications market in Germany since liberalisation

When the German telecommunications market was opened up entirely to competition it was mainly characterized by a monopoly in the fixed‐link segment and a duopoly in the cellular segment. The article aims at highlighting how the German market has evolved since liberalisation and which developments have been brought about by competitive forces. The argument in this article is highly based on available empirical information. On the one hand, the analysis goes deep into sub‐segments of the telecommunications market. On the other hand, developments within and across these sub‐segments are analysed from different perspectives, encompassing in particular market volumes, traffic volumes, the positioning of players in the market, market share, and the role of prices.