'Mansell is to be congratulated on taking a complex technological subject and making it accessible to the non-technical reader. the book is an immensely valuable contribution to a small literature on the political economy of technology. It delivers the important message that without a much wider understanding of the way in which economic interests shape technological outcomes in the telecommunications sector and the political expression of "public good" arguments, at both national and European level, we risk delivering up the future of our domestic economy and society to an internationalised oligopoly of suppliers' - Intermedia 'One of the great merits of Robin Mansell's book. is that it is an excellent synthesis, offering a comparative analysis - looking at the EC, UK, US, Sweden, France and Germany - of what determines the evolution of communication networks. What makes this book different from other more critical analyses of the development of large technical systems is the, in my view brilliant, way in which the author demonstrates how the network technology is in itself the result of the strategies of oligopolistic rivalry and how so called 'neutral' technological choices in turn reinforce their dominant position' - Media Development 'The originality of Mansell's book. is its central focus on how political economic factors are structuring the emergent network architecture' - Political Studies 'Can be read to great advantage by academics, practitioners and public policmakers' - Journal of Economic Issues 'In this broad-ranging analysis, Robin Mansell assesses the dynamics of change in the electronic communication environment. Her investigation encompasses the political, economic, and technical factors contributing to the future of telecommunicaiton networks. She explores the consequences of policy decisions and design choices in the creation of intelligent networks.

At the same time, she demonstrates how both policies and technical aspects are themselves shaped by actors in the telecommunication sector, including governments, public telecommunication operators and their competitors, equipment manufacturers, and large users of public and private telecommunication networks' - Canadian Journal of Communication.