Opinion Paper: Euronet and its Effects on the U.S. Information Market

Abstract

The startup of Euronet in 1979 may eventually result in increased hourly charges to U.S. on-line users. This would arise from a drain-off of European business; access for Europeans to U.S. data processors has been made artificially expensive by the telecommunication charge established by the Postal and Telecommunications Administrations of the European Economic Community countries. Since the major data bases on the Euronet system will be U.S. produced, a plea is made for concerted effort by U.S. data producers and users to assure competitive communication rates in Europe.