Telecom Nation

Book excerpt: Mussio is a communications consultant who traces how Canada handled expansion in telecommunications and the arrival of the computer in the three critical decades following World War II. Like technological transformations in transportation and utilities, the spread of new communications systems forced governments to respond; in continental Europe and the UK, they asserted control and ownership of national telecommunication networks. In the US, private companies were permitted to manage systems and provide services. In Canada both models were adopted, and domestic hybrids combining both also flourished.Distributed in the US by Cornell University Services. c. Book News Inc.