 international acceptance. The organizations mentioned here are just examples; many other such organizations and cooperative units exist. New groups appear and some organizations disappear every year. One important problem in standardization is the question of intellec- tual property rights (IPRs). One company involved in development of a stan- dard may have a patent or copyright for a method or function that is essential for implementation of the standardized system. In such a case, other manu- facturers may not be able to implement the standard in an economically fea- sible manner without interfering with a patent or copyright. There are no fixed rules regarding how to solve this problem, but very often the patent or copyright owner agrees to license the patent or copyright for a standardized system under fair terms [5]. 1.6 Development of the Telecommunications Business In the past, telecommunications has been a protected business area. The national PTTs were once the only national telecommunications operators in most countries. They had control over standardization in international stan- dardization bodies and a monopoly in providing telecommunications Introduction to Telecommunications Network Engineering services in their home country. For political reasons domestic manufacturers were preferred as suppliers of the systems needed in the network. Competi- tion was not allowed, and the development of services and networks was slow in many countries. During the latter part of the 1980s the deregulation of the telecommu- nications business started in Europe and proceeded rapidly in many other areas of the world. Competitive telecommunications services are important for the development of an economy, and governments supported the devel- opment of free markets heavily. In Europe the European Union has paid much attention to the deregu- lation of the telecommunications business. New operators have obtained licenses to provide local and long-distance telephone and data services and mobile telecommunications services