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Economics
- Access Strategies for Communication Service Providers
Kumar, Balaji
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- Addresses an important component of the network -- access to the customer -- which is currently the bottleneck in providing a wide range of services in a cost-effective way. A broadband access architecture that is capable of providing both broadband and narrowband services is outlined for each of the various service providers.
- Antidote to the Anytime, Anywhere, Anything Syndrome
Niles, John S.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- Associate Editor John Niles summarizes and comments on a new book from authors Stephen Graham and Simon Marvin entitled Telecommunications and the City, a definitive analysis of how "electronic spaces and urban places" coexist and grow together. The authors explore the relationship between urbanization trends and the technology of telecommunications.
- Benchmarking Telecommunications in Developing Countries: A Poland Case Study
Kroder, Stanley L. , Ph.D.
Wilkinson, Gary F. , Ph.D.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- The authors use benchmarking and diffusion analysis to describe the changes within the telecommunications industry in a particular region to draw conclusions about telecom policy. By benchmarking telecom, they can compare the focal country's telecom infrastructure -- in this case, Poland -- to that of other countries and draw conclusions concerning the effectiveness of its telecom policies. They also use a basic diffusion model to draw policy implications concerning the pace of telecommunications infrastructure development. In this study, they compare Poland's telecom development at several levels to both its Central and Eastern European neighbors and the European Union and draw some conclusions from their findings.
- Benchmarking Telecommunications in Developing Countries: A Poland Case Study (unabridged)
Kroder, Stanley L. , Ph.D.
Wilkinson, Gary F. , Ph.D.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- Stan Kroder and Gary Wilkinson's unabridged article, only available electronically
- Bringing Enhanced Cable Services to Market: Forecasts and Analyses
Evans, Scott
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- Provides a state-of-the-industry overview of cable. Included are recommendations for the industry plus financial analyses using different enhanced services models: video only, Internet only, video + Internet, video + voice, and combined services.
- Competing with HFC: Tips, Tactics, and Tricks for Switched Digital Video Providers
Goldberg, Lee
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- The author looks at two competing systems for bringing voice, video, and data into homes and small businesses -- hybrid fiber/coax networks and switched digital systems. He discusses the architectural similarities and differences of each and the assumptions each makes about the future of communications. He argues convincingly that SDV's switched architecture and open-ended connectivity make it able to offer a wider variety of services. Finally, he provides some practical advice on how to leverage the strengths of SDV into competitive advantage.
- Digital Infrastructure: The New Public Works?
Niles, John S.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- Describes a spectrum of activism defined by four patterns in which U.S. state governments span a continuum of approaches from inadvertent and unconscious on one end to building and operating government-owned telecommunications systems. Included in the discussion are two geographic perspectives -- statewide and community-by-community -- and a look at some of the barriers to government involvement.
- Doing Business in Russia: East-to-West Technology Transfer
Feller, Gordon
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- Discusses the abundant opportunities within Russia's underfunded network of science and technology institutes, labs, and enterprises which still carry on the basic R&D work once funded so generously and patiently during the days of the former USSR. The author presents six vital facts that make Russia an increasingly attractive arena for tapping technology.
- Fiber Antics: Practical Lessons in Building a Municipal Fiber Optic Network
Grant, August E. , Ph.D.
Berquist, Lon
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- Draws lessons from the city of Austin, Texas and its process to select a company to build a broadband network to provide telephone, cable TV, digital video, and digital data services. Readers may find the city's selection very interesting and insightful. It is hoped this information will be useful to companies wishing to work with city governments on advanced telecommunications networks.
- Impact of Internet Traffic on Public Telephone Networks
Kumar, Balaji
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- Addresses the impacts and the implications of Internet traffic on the local exchange public network. First, some background on the LEC network and the assumptions used in the design of telephone networks is provided. Second, the characteristics of voice and Internet traffic are defined. Finally, how Internet traffic impacts the local network is defined. Having identified this impact, some potential solutions for short-term and long-term options are discussed.
- Impacts of the 1996 Telecom Act on Investment and Innovation
Darby, Larry F. , Ph.D.
Fuhr, Joseph P. , Jr., Ph.D.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- Focuses on conditions conducive to investment and innovation in the telecom network sector of the economy. The authors address issues and questions related to the impact of the Telecommunications Act of 1997, and the FCC's implementation of the act on capital markets and the incentives for carriers to undertake risky investment. Includes a review of recent market performance of stocks and some recent research in progress on the sensitivity of telecom securities prices to interest rates and other factors.
- Opening Brazil's Telecom Markets to Competition
Sapoznik, Ralph
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- Ralph Sapoznik provides us with an overview of the events that led to the establishment of multiple Brazil-owned monopolies and the Brazilian model for privatization of those monopolies. He builds a case for privatizing telecom services in Brazil, then presents the advantages of moving to a duopoly model before opening the markets to full competition. Ralph also considers the patterns of noncompetitive behavior and discusses the potential for anti-competitive problems.
- Packet Plutocracy, Data Democracy, and the Bureaucracy
Wohlstetter, John C.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- This article examines FCC policy concerning access to advanced services that risks perpetuating a plutocracy of high-end users while delaying diffusion to the mass marketplace. John discusses how Sections 254 and 706 of the Telecom Act could potentially work at cross-purposes with each other, how the FCC interprets the interplay between these two sections, and whether this interplay could advance or delay rapid modernization of the public switched telephone network.
- Privacy in Telecommunications: Markets, Rights, and Regulations, Part I
Noam, Eli M. , Ph.D.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- In this first of a three-part series, the author reviews the issues of privacy in telecommunications along with some of the new and potential problems resulting from new communication and information technologies.
- Privacy in Telecommunications: Markets, Rights, and Regulations, Part II
Noam, Eli M. , Ph.D.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- In the second installment of "Privacy in Telecommunications," the author discusses statutory and regulatory approaches to privacy problems.
- Privacy in Telecommunications: Markets, Rights, and Regulations, Part III
Noam, Eli M. , Ph.D.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- In this third and final installment of "Privacy in Telecommunications," the author discusses markets in privacy, including a discussion of approaches to ensure privacy.
- Regulatory Perspectives on Investment and Innovation in U.S. Telecommunications
Darby, Larry F. , Ph.D.
Fuhr, Joseph P. , Ph.D.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- The authors report some of the results from a broader review and analysis of the impact of regulation on investment and innovation in the telecom sector. They begin with a discussion of the historic importance of infrastructure development as a goal of telecom policy, and then move to Congress' recent enlargement of that goal in the Telecom Act of 1996. They briefly review the tools available to the FCC for encouraging infrastructure and innovation and what the theoretical and empirical literature has to say about the impact of various forms of regulation on innovation and capital formation. They conclude with the implications for the development of a comprehensive and coherent policy to encourage innovation and investment in infrastructure.
- Rural Telecommunications: From Market Failure to Market Opportunity
Gillis, William , Ph.D.
McLellan, Steve
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- The authors propose principles to achieve universal service goals that will jump-start a competitive industry response to the real market opportunities that exist in rural communities while minimizing taxpayer and ratepayer subsidies.
- Sharpening the Videoconference Target
Grant, August E. , Ph.D.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- The author takes the position that videoconferencing has not yet reached the "critical mass" necessary for dramatic growth across markets. He begins the article with a brief look at an incredibly practical theory relating to the adoption of interactive technologies, using fax technology to illustrate the theory. The theory is then used to illustrate one of the biggest hurdles that videoconference technology must vault before becoming as ubiquitous as comparable technologies.
- Smart Communities In Action
Jung, John G.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- John Jung's companion article available only electronically.
- Smart Communities: Digitally-Inclined and Content-Rich
Jung, John G.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- John Jung has previously written about the increasing role of telecommunications in any community's economic development strategy. In this latest NTQ article, he looks at the state of the smart community today. He argues that merely deploying additional wire does not make the community smart. The successful smart communities are those that are able to use the technologies of a knowledge-based economy to develop, market, and supply new products and services that are demanded both by other knowledge-based economies and by the developing markets moving in that direction.
- Southern African Regional Telecommunications: Addressing the Challenges of the 21st Century
Coakley, John
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- Global Perspective columnist John Coakley discusses the formidable challenge the 12 nations of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) face in keeping pace with the evolving global telecommunications sector. This article discusses reform efforts currently underway in these 12 nations plus the anticipated next steps in their efforts to privatize and introduce competition. Included is a table of SADC Telecom Indicators and a sidebar describing the SADC and the Regional Telecommunications Restructuring Program objective.
- Telecommunications in China: More Than Was Bargained For?
Ure, John , Ph.D.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- Discusses the likelihood of China opening its telecom market to foreign direct investment (FDI) for funding much-needed network expansion. Included in the discussion is a review of China's telecom revenue sources and opportunities. Also included is an insightful look into the Chinese policy-making process.
- Telecommunications' Big Idea
Niles, John S.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- John Niles argues that the primary purpose of telecommunications for society is simply where best to go depends on what you know. In other words, telecommunications facilitates a better level and mix of proximity to the people and places we care about. He discusses the individual, organizational, and social forces that shape the choice between proximity and remote interaction, including the real costs of time and travel, internal reorganization, balkanization, interest articulation and interest aggregation.
- Telemedicine in the 1990s: Issues and Opportunities
Thomas, Bennett
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- Bennett Thomas looks at telemedicine in the 1990s, and its potential for delivering quality, cost-effective medical care. He notes that while high costs and inadequate infrastructure continue to be problems, cultural and human factors also present big obstacles to acceptance. This article includes five case studies from around the world: Newfoundland, the United States, Germany, Russia, and Third World Nations. He concludes that the keys to success are adequate funding and widespread project support from those involved.
- The Challenge of Implementing Service-Provider Portability
Rollins, John C. , MS, PE
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- Reviews one key aspect of the 1996 Telecommunications Act -- the implementation of Service Provider Portability (SPP). Included in the discussion is a review of some history associated with SPP and a look at the impacts to network switching components from a hardware and software perspective.
- The Economics of Wireline versus Wireless Telephone Service
Morrison, Ed
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- The author addresses the question, "Will cellular or another wireless technology provide telecommunications service to rural ratepayers at a lower cost than wireline technology?" He draws some interesting conclusions and recommendations on how to meet customer needs with "least cost" solutions.
- The Emerging Business Economics of Telecommunications
Shaw, James K. , Ph.D.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- Provides a definition of convergence and discusses its significance in the restructuring of the telecommunications industry. Prompted by deregulation and technological advance, the author contends that no firm can fully participate in all sectors of the industry without acquiring, merging, or cooperating with complementary firms.
- The Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the FCC's "Spin"
Wohlstetter, John C.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- Focuses on the economic aspect of the 1996 Telecom Act embodied in interconnection and pricing policies, and the FCC's proposed order governing the prerequisite conditions of the LECs to gain entry into long distance and equipment markets. The author argues that the FCC is attempting to preempt state and legislative authority because it fears the LECs could stall interconnection at the balkanized state level more effectively than at the unitary federal level, which would be to the detriment of competition and the ability of non-LEC competitors to raise investment capital.
- Tough Times for India's Cellular Carriers
Shailaja V.R.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- The author discusses the factors underlying the current financial difficulties for India's cellular carriers. Unrealistic projections for subscriber growth and airtime usage are the primary reasons. In this article, she examines the reasons why subscriber growth and airtime usage have not developed as expected, the government response, and what the operators are doing now to survive.
- Wireless Communications and Technology Substitution: What S-Curves Reveal about Pending Cellular Competition
Shaw, James K. , Ph.D.
[HTML version] [pdf version]
- The author reviews the principal wireless technologies -- cellular, paging, PCS, and SMR -- and their emerging competitive positioning. He estimates market penetration rates, a probable time of maturity for the industry, and likely points at which some technologies will be sought as substitutes for others. Included in the article is a table citing competitive advantages and disadvantages of each of these technologies, plus charts of his estimates for 1996 through 2004.
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