  We investigate the gauge boson propagator in three dimensional compact
Abelian gauge model in the Landau gauge at finite temperature. The presence of
the monopole plasma in the confinement phase leads to appearance of an
anomalous dimension in the momentum dependence of the propagator. The anomalous
dimension as well as an appropriate ratio of photon wave function
renormalization constants with and without monopoles are observed to be order
parameters for the deconfinement phase transition. We discuss the relation
between our results and the confining properties of the gluon propagator in
non--Abelian gauge theories.
