This research literature review reflects the historical development of research in telematics and regional development, focusing particularly on the inherent research paradigms. In an early phase (the 1960s and 1970s), research was dominated by correlation analyses based on a communication model paradigm with communication as a cause-and-effect process. However, during the 1980s a large number of micro causational analyses were performed. This then led to a new paradigm, according to which communication is a process of interference among complex social systems. This literature review concludes that although the complexity of the relation between telecommunication and regional development must indeed be recognised, currently, there is a need to assist policy making by trying to classify the “myriad of factors” identified during the “complex systems paradigm” tradition into a less complicated typology, and thus to reduce the numerous policy recommendations into a manageable number of integrated strategies.