The future role of international telecommunications institutions

The telecommunications world is being swept by technological and national regulatory changes. The international telecommunication institutions — the ITU, INTELSAT and CEPT — were founded in times when technological trends were more stable and national regulation was more homogeneous. How will they cope with these new changes? In an era of growing heterogeneity, the ITU may need to look increasingly beynd itself to maintain its centrality. Meanwhile, INTELSAT faces challenges from new market entrants and a more flexible approach to new technological and commercial imperatives in satellite and cable services. The EEC is awakening to the need for institutional change within Europe and this is already having an impact on CEPT. It is concluded that to survive and to maintain relevance the existing international institutions will need to initiate changes or face a loss of authority to other institutions such as OECD and EEC.     

Standard setting in international telecommunications

A brief overview of the historical development of the telephone is given, emphasizing the importance of timely standards for technique, services and operation. The introduction of new technology and changing national policies in the provision of telecommunication services call even more for standardization at both the national and international level. Compatibility is a crucial factor in telecommunications and should be achieved by appropriate design and not by adaptation of installed equipment. Finally, the authors describe the newly developed CCITT policy to reconcile the necessity of continuity in standard telecommunication services and innovation due to the inherent potential of new technology.     

US telecommunications policy in the executive branch: The OTP and reorganisational alternatives

The author presents a critical assessment of the requirements of the government in telecommunications. He analyses the successes and failures of the Office of Telecommunications Policy, examines its relationships with other federal agencies, and describes the tradeoffs implicit in several of the alternatives available to it. The author concludes with recommendations for restructuring telecommunications policy in the new administration.     

Regulatory governance in African telecommunications: Testing the resource curse hypothesis

This paper examines regulatory governance in the context of African telecommunications. Though there is already a substantial literature devoted to the regulatory practices in developing countries, it generally conceptualizes the quality of regulation as an exogenous policy variable that affects the performance of the telecommunications sector or treats it as a normative recommendation to improve performance.     

Technological change and multinational growth in international telecommunications services

Revolutionary technological and institutional changes, introduced since mid-seventies, are drastically altering the quiet functioning of international telecommunications markets, traditionally characterized by a strong multilateral oligopoly. In such multilateral oligopoly firms had little scope and opportunity for any form of international growth. Since the early eighties the scope for international growth of telecommunications carriers is emerging as a critical issue in international telecommunications. The economics of multinational firms and international trade make it possible to assess the role of technology gaps in the modernization process, international telecommunications tariff asymmetries and global outsourcing as the determinants of multinational growth of telecommunications carriers and their international strategies.     

Income distribution and the diffusion of networks: An empirical study of Brazilian telecommunications

Telecommunications is often considered to be an important contributor to economic growth, and most countries have therefore adopted several initiatives to improve coverage of fixed as well as mobile telephones. This paper focuses on the role of income distribution on the diffusion of fixed telecommunications in Brazil. The focus is on how the distribution of income may affect affordability and thereby the market size. The result is that an uneven income distribution may result in higher coverage for the poorest municipalities in the study since the uneven distribution allows for at least some consumers to reach the critical level of income. For municipalities above a certain average income level, the effect is reversed and coverage will be adversely affected by high inequality. The findings are robust to different measures of inequality.     

Prolific authors and institutions in leading international business journals

The science and practice of international business is advanced through scholarly contribution to the leading international business journals. Increased competition among academic institutions has led to increased emphasis on publication in the leading international business journals. Yet, little is known as to the answers to questions such as: (1) Who are the most prolific authors in the leading international business journals? and (2) Which educational institutions appear poised to lead international business scholarship? To examine these questions, the study examines scholarly work in international business over the past eleven years in six leading international business journals (i.e., Journal of International Business Studies, Management International Review, Journal of World Business, International Marketing Review, Journal of International Marketing, and International Business Review). Addressing these two research questions provides us with a more complete understanding of the authors and institutions most likely to influence the field of international business.     

The UK telecommunications monopoly: An independent view

The author assesses how much of the UK Post Office monopoly is ‘natural’, and how much is purely statutory and could be replaced by conditions of free and open competition. He also considers the historical reasons behind the PO's purely statutory monopolies, and the extent to which they remain desirable from the point of view of the public interest at a time of rapid technological change. Finally, he examines the implications for the health of the European computer, telecommunications and electronic industries of the growing divergence between European leased communications line costs and costs in North America.     

Global competition and EEC policy in telecommunications: An Italian perspective

Within the framework of increasing US and Japanese competition, an interpretation is given of the future development lines of European telecommunications. Europe is lagging behind in this sector; this is explained in terms of the subdivision of services at the national level and the fragmentation of industrial areas within the respective countries. The minimum basis for recovery should be the establishment of a common European base in the telecommunications sector. A European scenario is proposed with particular attention devoted to the Italian problems in restructuring and development.     

Mexico's international telecommunications policy: Origins,the WTO dispute,and future challenges

Mexico is by far Latin America's largest trader and the country with the most free trade agreements. Notwithstanding the success of its trade policy, the liberalization of its telecommunications sector was limited and generated a dispute at the WTO. This article offers an overview of Mexico's trade policy, with special emphasis on its policy regarding trade in telecommunications services and the 2002–2004 Mexico–United States dispute over telecommunications at the WTO. The dispute is the first one over trade in telecommunications services at the WTO and has generated interest among many developed and developing countries.     

Economy size and performance: An efficiency analysis in the telecommunications sector

The existing empirical evidence on the relationship between economy size and performance has been inconclusive. This paper employs stochastic frontier analysis to estimate economic measures of efficiency for the telecommunications sectors of 139 economies and examine their relationship with economy size. Simultaneously, it controls for the effects of competition in telecommunications, privatization of state-owned providers, independent regulators, and the quality of political institutions on sector performance. The findings suggest that economy size has a positive but decreasing impact on sector performance. Small economies have an incentive to grow to improve sector performance, though larger size is not a sufficient condition for efficiency. Sector policy and the quality of polity may contribute significantly to sector performance.     

Political and economic processes in the privatization of the Korea telecommunications industry: A case study of Korea Telecom, 1987–2003

The Korean government completed its privatization of Korea Telecom (KT) in May 2002. Privatization was undertaken at a gradual pace at first mainly because the Korean government did not want to hand over its managerial power to the privatized telecommunications service company, although it announced its plan in 1987. However, the inauguration of the World Trade Organization (WTO) system and the Korean economic crisis of 1997 forced the government to accelerate its full privatization plan. During this process, several main players such as the Korean government, transnational corporations, international organizations, and large domestic conglomerates played important roles. The full privatization of KT is the result of the political, social, and economic demands of these players.     

Access regulation, competition, and broadband penetration: An international study

The evolution of broadband penetration has shown substantial differences between OECD countries. This paper empirically investigates to what extent different forms of regulated competition explain these international differences. It distinguishes three modes of competition between broadband internet access providers that result from regulatory policies: (1) inter-platform competition; (2) facilities-based intra-platform competition; and (3) service-based intra-platform competition. In most countries these forms of competition co-exist although their intensity varies from country to country. Intra-platform competition may differ among countries depending on the degree of mandatory access obligations imposed by the regulator on the dominant network firm. Based on a sample of OECD countries, the analysis finds that inter-platform competition has been a main driver of broadband penetration. The two types of intra-platform competition have a considerably smaller effect on the broadband penetration. Linking these findings back to access regulation suggests that the “stepping stone” or “ladder of investment” theories might not provide the justification to impose extensive mandatory access obligations on DSL incumbents.     

Cost allocation and regulatory pricing in telecommunications : A UK case study

This article describes the application of alternative cost allocation methodologies to the Hull telephone system, which provides service to a small area of the UK independently of British Telecom. The article first discusses alternative uses of and methods for allocating costs among access, local usage and trunk usage. It then implements the fully distributed cost approach, using accountancy data provided by the company. In addition, several illustrative calculations are shown which cost individual services on a stand-alone basis using different technologies. The results broadly suggest that, on a full distributed cost basis, access costs exceed existing average tariff levels. The article concludes with some illustrative calculations showing the rebalancing of access and usage charges which would generate the same revenue but bring them more in line with costs.     

An assessment of the 2008 telecommunications restructuring in China

The restructuring in the Chinese telecom sector in 2008 has prompted heated discussion among telecom analysts and experts. Past research tends to take an optimistic view that China has embarked on a liberalizing route, resulting in utopian projections that domestic competition and foreign liberalizing forces would lead to the emergence of a telecom market operated primarily under the principles of free market economics in the near term. This paper, instead, argues that current telecom restructuring was largely driven by domestic agendas. Drawing from the bargaining perspective, this paper finds that, while it is true that market mechanisms play a significant role in the telecom industry, the impact of competition and privatization on the telecom market ultimately depends on the political endowments of Chinese society.     

Women of influence: A case study of three telecommunications policymakers

With some notable exceptions, the scholarly literature in communications policy mostly reflects the accomplishments of men. “Women of Influence” expands this literature by profiling the experiences and contributions of three women: Cardiss Collins, the first African American Congresswoman from Illinois; Patricia Diaz Dennis, one of the first Hispanic FCC Commissioners; and Janice Obuchowski, the first woman appointed Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information. Their policy work affected various issues from creating opportunities for minorities in broadcasting to helping countries privatize formerly government-owned media. Their experiences demonstrate the importance of including women and minorities in the policymaking process.     

Successful new product development—An international comparative study

Abstract . This paper reports on the results of a study of new product development processes in the British and West German machine tool industries. Differences in the product development processes between the two national industries are used to explain the relative trading performance of each industry in international markets in recent years.