Communications: the challenge is Europe

The US telecommunications industry faces increasingly strong competitive pressures from European manufacturers of hardware. Vendors in Europe will have the chance to take advantage of planned changes to the European Economic Community, resulting in new competitive pressures for US companies. US companies do not have the edge in the wide area network market that they have in the local area network market. Telecommunications start-up companies in the US received a roughly 50 percent increase in funding to $168.4 million during 1986. Communications vendors from Europe and Japan are also increasing their presence on US markets. US hardware vendors have a significant lead in communications equipment, such as PBX systems and voice networks.