mes less pronounced after 2002, it lasts even after the period shown in the plot up to the present time. The behavior of prices is the last element needed to depict a global scenario of the tele- communications market, as it is experienced by European and American carriers. The main elements influencing such a market are summarized as follows: There is a strong market requirement from the end users to increase the access bandwidth and the broadband access penetration since this is perceived as a nec- essary infrastructure for social growth. There is a strong requirement to lower the prices of both telephone and Internet, corresponding both to the need of a larger diffusion of Internet and to a general negative trend in the customers' willingness to spend money on telecommunica- tion services. Telecommunication Networks Price index of telephone calls (%) Italy France EU area Germany FIGURE 2.9 Average price of a phone call in different European countries versus time in the period 1996-2004. All prices are relative to the average price in the Euro area at the beginning of 1996 (assumed to be 100%). (After Church, S. and Pizzi, S., Audio Over IP: Building Pro AoIP Systems with Livewire, Focal Press, Burlington, MA, s.l., 2009, ISBN-13: 978-0240812441.) Carriers are almost all in a difficult financial position due to debts, but their net income at present is positive. The carrier position is worsened by the price-decreasing trend that does not seem to stop and forces them to continuously introduce new and larger bandwidth ser- vices to compensate price fall. Carrier income comes mostly from voice services; their expenses are mainly due to the need to sustain and expand broadband services. ADSL technologies, allowing broadband services to be implemented without the need of deploying new cables, seem to be at their maximum; in order to attempt the next jump in capacity, new cabling with optical fibers seems necessary, with the need of a huge CAPEX. Competition in the carrier market is regulated by the administration of