Deployment of Telework in European Public Administrations

Part Two: Selected Cases
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Information provided by Bruno Peeters, Alderman of Communication, Governmental Organisation and
Decentralisation, President of Telepolis Antwerp, in face-to-face interview and by a presentation in the
framework of Global Village, City Hall Vienna, 27th March 1998.
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Source: Houssemand, Claude; CEPS/INSTEAD (1998).

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Portugal
The EU has granted Portugal the right to delay full liberalisation of telecom until 2003. Under the
current legal monopolies, telecommunication infrastructure has been developed significantly
since the late 1980s. The number of digital lines rose from 5 % of the telephone net in 1988 to
almost 60 % in 1994. The market for GSM mobile telephony and paging, already liberalised, is
growing rapidly. Nevertheless, telecom tariffs are still among the highest of the OECD-countries,
installation of new lines involves a considerable waiting period for the consumer, and the
provision of Internet services is at a low level.
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Except of the emergence of Call Centres supporting clients of banks and insurance companies,
telework has not gained much importance as a mode of work organisation, especially not
regarding high skill jobs performed in a framework of relative high independence regarding status
and interaction with the work environment or customers. For the state of the art technology might
be a major factor, but based on a study in the textile industry domestic researchers also draw
attention to the cultural pre-conditions in work regimes:
‘Of course, Portugal still has a lot to improve in technology and expertise, but one of the big
reasons to the registered resistance towards telework deals with supervision. A lot of managers
still identify supervision, control and visibility. ‘Keeping the subordinates under eyes’ gives them
a symbolic power and delays any innovation.’
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Portugal Telecom is one of a few advanced telework-practitioners, whereby it is mainly services
that are decentralised. A pilot started at the end of 1995 with six teleworking operators who have
been working from remote sites carrying out tasks like alarm calls, services, collect calls,
information (directory) and malfunctions.
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The event of the ‘Fifth European Assembly on
Telework and New Ways of Working’ in Lisbon in September 1998 was expected to provide
stimuli for the host country.
Most important in the political arena has been the approval of a ‘Green Paper on the Information
Society in Portugal’ by the Council of Ministers as presented by the Minister for Science and
Technology, José Mariano Gago, to the Assembly of the Republic in its plenary session of April
30, 1997.
Besides the objectives to strengthen the national academic and research network and to prepare
schools for the Information Society, a mission team comprising representatives of ministries as
well as external experts is in charge of studying and monitoring practical measures in the
information and communications fields which concern the relations between citizens and the
administration.