National transmission plan in a competitive environment

Transmission plans have been produced by monopoly public network operators for many years. These clearly have to take into account the major transmission parameters that need to be considered and set for satisfactory network operation. In general they have been based upon ITU-T (CCITT) recommendations including hypothetical reference circuits (HRC) cut down to the appropriate size to reflect a typical national scenario. This paper considers the effect upon these traditional practices, of a competitive environment such as exists in the United Kingdom, and, additionally, technological developments, because the two are to some extent related