The Telephone War 1903-1918

This is a study that focuses on the debate and the different arguments that was used in the period 1903-1918 during the time when the monopoly concerning telephones where established in Stockholm and Sweden and when Stockholm had different competing telephone companies. The different arguments used both in the Swedish parliament and in the Stockholm City Council pro and against the creation of a national monopoly are studied. The purpose of the study is to describe how the debate evolved and how the different arguments where used. The primary arguments against the creation of a monopoly where mostly the same during the studied time; an ideological argumentation based on the positive effects of competition and the argument that the cost for the state to buy the competitor was too high. The argument for creation of the monopoly evolved during time. In the beginning the main argument was based on theory of natural monopolies but over time arguments based on the socialist position that state monopolies where good gained ground and in the end of the studied period the fact that the state lost earnings on the competition also became a valid argument for the creation of the monopoly. The shortages concerning vital materials because of the war were also used as arguments in the end of the studied period. The debate evolves during a time in which the Swedish parliamentary system also evolves and universal suffrages is introduced and the final decision in creating the monopoly by granting the national operator finances for acquiring the private company is in part due to the fact of the by then different political situation in the Swedish parliament. The local dimension in this study shows a difference between the national and the local perspective where – the ideological dimensions apart – the city had fiscal and influenced based reasons to prefer the city based private company before the state owned national operator