New China and communications development: A cultural perspective

The author analyzes Chinese approaches to telecommunications technology. He examines the political and technical goals of the leadership with regard to this field, and explains the ways in which telecommunications development fits into the Chinese culture.     

Telecommunications privacy and the information society

Determining the appropriate actions to insure telecommunications privacy in the domestic telephone system presents unusually complex and interrelated considerations of law, technology and foreign policy. In this article, the author explores these considerations as they pertain to possible future telecommunications policy options for the government in its relations with the privately owned and operated telecommunications industry in the USA.     

Decentralizing human resources through telecommunications

Existing telecommunications technology offers alternative methods of creating and distributing written information, and of attending meetings and conventions. The author analyses the reasons why people choose how they use physical resources and shows that two unique human talents can be more effectively utilized with the aid of telecommunications. An implementation strategy for a new service such as teleconferencing is presented, together with results from trials which suggest the expected rate of adoption of similar future schemes. Finally, a success/failure criterion for new interpersonal telecommunications services is presented.     

Regional structure and telecommunications planning

The general role of telecommunications in economic development has been recognized, but there remain some important specific issues in matching telecommunications planning to development goals. The author suggests a new approach, based on models relating regional structure to telecommunications demand. Data, which are readily available, on populations in places and rural areas within a region are used to derive a regional structure composed of places and the links between them. These links are found to be very closely related to telecommunications demand. This article suggests that telecommunications and development planners in the Third World should pay particular attention to ensuring that all the links between places in a region are served, and that the models presented here could form the basis for suitable planning criteria.     

European telecommunications — plan for the future

Within the overall context of the political union of Europe, the author centres on the structural changes that would be required for a European telecommunications system. The suggested structure involves the unification of the management of European telecommunications services, currently the responsibility of independent national organizations.     

Australia's telecom 2000

Telecom 2000 explores the implications of the growing interaction between telecommunications and society. The author outlines the main findings concerning Australia's social and economic future, the possible directions of telecommunications, and the policies and strategies recommended to guide its development through the coming decades.     

Network control in global communications

The author examines the impact of technology on international communications in terms of the changing concept of the telecommunications ‘user’, the development of private networks, and the emergence of service bureaus. After defining and discussing the resulting policy problems, he briefly reviews the policy process and questions its adequacy in the new world of telecommunications.     

The case against competing infrastructures

The EU Council of Ministers is considering proposals to liberalize telecommunications infrastructure. This article shows that there is no evidence that infrastructure competition in the UK has contributed to improvement in BT's performance. The author argues that the public wants and deserves choice of services and prices at all levels of telecommunications now. It should not have to wait 10 or 20 years while competitors to the old monopolies laboriously construct networks and wrestle with funding problems.     

Telecommunications privatizations and international capital markets

This article discusses why equity capital markets, especially in the USA, have found telecommunications privatizations extremely attractive investment opportunities. Raising capital will become harder by the mid-1990s, the author predicts, and he goes on to consider the implications of tighter capital conditions for the future funding efforts of governments and telecommunications administrations.     

Uncertainty and inertia

The challenge, and justification, of long-term telecommunications planning lies in an acute conflict between uncertainty and inertia. A national telecommunications system faces great economic, social, and political uncertainties, yet it does so handicapped by a degree of inertia which precludes rapid changes of direction. Assessing first the sources of uncertainty and inertia, the author goes on to examine ways in which the two can be reduced or reconciled.     

Telecommunications for development: findings of the ITU-OECD project

This article presents the main findings of a major research project jointly sponsored by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Development Centre of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The purpose of the project was to shed some light on the ways in which telecommunications contribute to economic and social development. The author also describes one approach to rural telecommunications explored by the project — the GLODOM concept.     

Setting technical standards for improved communication flows

This article deals with telecommunications standardization in relation to world trade, needs of developing countries, and facilitating user access to worldwide communication. The author comments on the responsibility of ITU members to support standardization activities carried out in ITU forums.     

Communication satellites for rural service: Problems and potentials

The author discusses three interrelated facets of the problem and potentials of communication satellites for rural development. The first concerns the nature of the needs for rural telecommunications, and differences from urban telecommunications needs. The second facet is the technical and economic nature of satellites, compared to other technologies, as it relates to the task of meeting rural needs within rather severe economic constraints. Finally, a set of policy issues emerges from the review of technical and economic characteristics in the context of rural needs.     

Telecommunications development in Israel: The growth of public services and lessons from developing countries

The article begins with a discussion of the importance of the public services sector in the development of a modern economy, with specific reference to the organization and growth of public services in Israel. While the telecommunications sector is becoming increasingly important in national economies, it is often mismanaged in developing countries and its profits are used to subsidize other areas of the economy, particularly the postal services, which are run at a loss. The author analyses the various reasons for the lack of effective telecommunications policies in developing countries, and concludes with a series of recommendations for Israel which arise from that analysis.     

Telecommunications in the developing world : Investment decision and performance monitoring

The contention that there is significant underinvestment in telecommunications services in developing nations is supported by cross country data. The accepted approach to determining whether investment should take place involves: identifying unsatisfied demand; determining the least cost solution; and assessing whether benefits will exceed costs. The author draws upon the experience of World Bank involvement in telecommunications projects in developing nations and concludes that the trend in some developing countries toward increased investment in the sector will continue, furthering the goals of increased economic efficiency and improved social equity.     

Strategy in the telecommunications market: The effects of liberalization and competition

This article identifies some of the ways in which firms in the telecommunications industry have attempted to cope with deregulation, drawing upon the experience already evident since liberalization began a few years ago. The author argues that certain types of market conditions provide particular problems for firms, to which they must respond if they are to remain prosperous. A matrix describing four market types is offered as a facsimile of the competitive conditions now found in the telecommunications industry, and examples are given from the UK. Economic, technological and political factors affect the strategic behaviour which firms must follow, but in different ways and at different times.     

The US communications consumer and FCC policies: The AT & T position on the proposed legislation

Recent FCC decisions constitute a threat to the traditional principles of US telecommunications policy. Having outlined those principles, the author considers the issue of competition, stresses the need for a unified system, and describes the economic effects of a continuation of FCC policies. Division of responsibility, duplication of facilities, and increases in rates for basic telephone service are seen as consequences which will militate against the efficiency and availability of US telecommunications.     

Telecommunications services in France: The regulated monopoly and the challenge of competition

Classical microeconomic modelling cannot alone explain the present trend of telecommunications deregulation. Based upon an examination of the French situation, the author argues that the current phenomenon should be viewed more as a game between three main players whose behaviour can be analysed using principles of industrial organization. The traditional telecommunications monopoly is bound to react defensively in response to increasingly powerful demand, stimulated by technical innovations, while at the same time the public policy maker searches for modern regulatory principles. Demand, as represented by large corporate customers, will probably trigger the next step in the game between the three players.     

The ITU and development assistance: North,South and the dynamics of the CCIs

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), like other UN agencies, has been called upon to assist the developing countries in establishing a telecommunications infrastructure. This article charts the change of the ITU from being an organization concerned solely with matters of technical coordination to one which is involved in development assistance. The development of its various International Consultative Committees is also explained. The author argues that the developed countries have had to accept the change in the ITU's purpose demanded by its Third World members because of an imperative to consolidate the worldwide operation of telecommunications networks. As the industrialized nations' stake in those networks increases, the higher is the cost of breaking up the collective arrangements which make their operation possible.     

Telecommunications and education in the USA

The author examines the use of technology and telecommunications in various subsectors of education. Included in the examination are metropolitan communications networks for education, costs and economies of scale, and the federal role in technological innovation in education. He concludes with recommendations for additional studies aimed at achieving increased social benefits from the use of technology in education within metropolitan areas.