The role of cities in telecommunications development

City authorities increasingly recognize the crucial importance of their telecommunications infrastructures. Indeed, many urban policy makers are now becoming actively involved in their development. This Comment reviews the types of intervention and policy models that are presenting themselves in Europe, Japan and North America. It argues two things: first, that cities must now be included in our understanding of the forces shaping the development of telecommunications; and second, that these new policies are developing to reflect the wider national contexts of urban government and telecommunications regulation in each case.