Integrated Broad-Band Communication Systems in Belgium

Belgian politicians, the National Telecommunications Administration (RTT), and the telecommunication industry in general fully realize the major economic, industrial, and social importance of an advanced telecommunications infrastructure for the future of the country. A national effort is therefore underway. This paper describes the specific Belgian telecommunications environment, its development towards an ISDN infrastructure, and evolution towards the integration of telecommunication and distribution services into a uniform broad-band communication network. The present network structures for both telecommunication and distribution services are briefly discussed in this paper. Furthermore, plans and experiments in the area of ISDN are also described. Explanations related to the basic concepts of a national integrated broad-band communication network and possible architectures for a demonstration project are given.