What's ahead: Choices for tomorrow: Sobering institutional and technical issues will determine the shape of future telecommunications systems

What will the postdivestiture telecommunications industry look like over the next 5 to 15 years? That picture will be determined not only by the emergence of new technologies but also by judicial, regulatory, and legislative decisions that will shape the industry in the United States and other countries. Some trends can be extrapolated into clear scenarios; others are more contradictory - primarily because there is now a major new element in the business: stiff competition and its concomitant risk.