Quasi-degenerate neutrinos from an abelian family symmetry

Abstract We show that models with an Abelian family symmetry which accounts for the observed hierarchies of masses and mixings in the quark sector may also accommodate quasi-degeneracies in the neutrino mass spectrum. Such approximate degeneracies are, in this context, associated with large mixing angles. The parameters of this class of models are constrained. We discuss their phenomenological implications for present and foreseen neutrino experiments.