Social services and telecommunications: Innovation in human services delivery

This article presents an analysis of the current state of adoption of telecommunications technologies by organizations and individuals who work in human services. It examines the barriers to use of innovations and suggests the future course of acceptance for the different technologies. Radio and telephone appear to have the fewest barriers to adoption, and it is likely that as consumers become more accustomed to advanced technologies in their homes, they will be more likely to accept them in the workplace.     

Quality-adjusted international price comparisons of mobile telecommunications services

Many countries' policymakers have conducted international price comparisons of mobile telecommunications services to prevent service operators from overcharging subscribers. However, those comparisons have become more complicated because of the escalation in service usage and telecommunications expenditures spurred by the proliferation of smartphones and broadband LTE wireless internet service networks. The basket-based methodologies that have been widely used for international price comparisons are also limited—first, because the baskets for comparison may not be representative of actual service usage patterns in some countries; second, because they are difficult to apply to highly differentiated service plans due to the significant increase in wireless internet service usage and widely used plans with unlimited voice call service and SMS/MMS; and third, because they cannot consider the quality of service, such as upload and download speed in various service environments, at all. As an alternative, this paper proposes a hedonic pricing model that accounts for service quality and its variation in potentially disruptive environments, as well as fixed charge for a mobile phone additional to the price of service plans. The model was used to derive quality-adjusted price indices of mobile telecommunications services for twelve cities in ten countries with broadband LTE wireless internet service. The empirical results confirmed that the price index of each city varied significantly across the specifications,—both within the United States and internationally—depending on whether the model was constructed to reflect service quality and its variation on roads, in buildings, and in subways. The price index of each city also varied depending on whether the subsidized price of a mobile phone was considered part of the monthly price of a service plan. These results have important implications for policymakers seeking to understand the ultimate level of mobile telecommunication service prices for their country in a global context.     

Municipal electric utilities’ role in telecommunications services

Municipal electric utilities (MEUs) are increasingly expanding into telecommunications services. Such entry is interesting in several respects. First, MEUs marry two potential pathways for the growth of telecommunications access infrastructure and services: public ownership of last-mile facilities and electric power company expansion into telecommunications. Second, municipalities are key early adopters of next generation access technology in the form of both fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) and broadband wireless (e.g., WiMax) systems. Third, MEUs are at the nexus of the debate over the proper role for local government in promoting broadband Internet access. Most homes in the United States are served by investor-owned local telephone and cable television providers, using company-owned wireline infrastructure. These providers have generally opposed municipal entry, arguing that it will crowd out private investment and represents an unfair and less efficient form of competition. A number of states have acted to limit—or in some cases—to promote such entry. Before engaging in this debate, it is necessary to have a clearer picture of the current state of municipal entry and the local demographic, cost, industry, and policy factors that influence its evolution. To address this need, this paper reports the results of an empirical analysis of MEUs that provide communications services to the public. This analysis shows that MEUs are more likely to offer such services if they also provide internal communication services to support their electric utility operations (scope economies); are relatively close to metropolitan areas (lower backhaul costs); are in markets with fewer competitive alternatives (cable modem and DSL service availability limited); and which are less encumbered by regulatory barriers to entry (in communities in states which do not restrict municipal entry into telecommunication services). Of these results, the competitive impacts are the least straight-forward to interpret, suggesting richer dynamics and avenues for further research.     

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.     

New telecommunications services in Austria : A technology assessment

Public fears have grown up surrounding the uncertain potential benefit or harm of recent rapid technological advances in Austrian telecommunications. A technology assessment was called for, to proffer comprehensive and balanced information on the current state of, and future developments in, Austrian telecommunications. This paper explains the organization of the Austrian PTT, discusses successful new services, considers their relationship to the law and the economy, and analyses their social impact.     

Consumer spending behavior and telecommunications services. A multi-method inquiry

Despite the enormous capital and marketing investments anticipated by telecommunications providers and policy makers alike, there is a surprising lack of understanding about how consumers are likely to behave in the brave new world of telecom offerings. Drawing on innovative perceptual mapping, conjoint, and respondent-adjusted-demand techniques, this study presents an in-depth, multi-faceted picture of the US telecommunications consumer. Key questions are addressed such as: is there a limit to telecom spending? where does telecom fit within consumer priorities? who are the likely telecom spenders? and what types of offerings are most likely to succeed?     

Internationalisation in the telecommunications services industry: Literature review and research agenda

A review of 356 publications addressing internationalisation aspects of the telecommunications services industry (TSI) shows a growing body of contributions, mainly covering research themes like settlement and regulation policy, strategic alliances and incumbents’ reactions to deregulation as well as opening of markets in-depth until recently. Wireline telephony TSI has been the dominant segment in most contributions, while the mobile or broadband Internet segments only featured in more recent work. Segment characteristics like non-uniform barriers to entry, different reasons for alliances and non-uniform levels of internationalisation differentiate these TSI segments pose a number of additional questions concerning telecom firms’ internationalisation strategy and success promising for future research.     

Complexity in the telecommunications industry: When integrating infrastructure and services backfires

The emergence of pure Internet-based service providers has put many integrated telecommunications firms - industry incumbents that provide services on their own infrastructure - under massive pressure. While various pure service providers enjoy high performance, the products offered by the incumbents often cannot compete on either price or user experience. Conventional wisdom, however, might suggest the opposite: that coordinating both infrastructure and services might allow the incumbents to reap synergy effects and create superior products. To address this issue, this paper applies a complex systems perspective to the telecommunications industry. It conceptualizes telecommunications firms to be searching for good configurations of interdependent service and infrastructure activities that need to fit together to achieve high-performing product systems. Using a simulation model, the paper shows that integrated operators can indeed take advantage of the interdependencies between the infrastructure and the service domain, resulting in superior product performance. Integrating infrastructure and services, however, can backfire: because learning about both domains and their interdependence requires more time, performance in the short run will be lower than that of pure service providers that can focus on adapting their service-related activities to an infrastructure that is beyond their control. The paper characterizes the conditions under which these effects can arise and concludes with implications for management and policy.     

The impact of trade liberalization in telecommunications services: The case of APEC countries

This paper examines the impact of liberalizing the telecommunications services sector on investment and output in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries by estimating a system of four structural equations that takes into account the causal relationship between national income and telecommunications infrastructure. The degree of openness to trade in telecommunications is represented by a carefully constructed index that reflects a country’s trade and investment policy in terms of market access, national treatment and regulatory principles. One interesting finding from the empirical analysis is that the effects of trade liberalization depend on the risk rating of a country. In countries with relatively high risk ratings liberalization reduces investment in telecommunications.     

An empirical analysis of multiple services and choices of consumer in the Swedish telecommunications market

Received analyses state that firms can use a multiple services offering strategy to retain customers and capture new customers. Factors that determine the multiple services strategy include product discount, service provider and customer characteristics. Consequently, this study addresses the fundamental question: what are the key determining factors that explain the probability that a consumer buys multiple services? A generalized Poisson regression model is employed to examine whether the product discount, service provider, socio-economic variables and geographical location impact consumer decisions. Data from a national survey in 2009 commissioned by Post-och Telestyrelsen, the Swedish telecommunications regulator, are analyzed. The results clearly show that the discount, service provider and income of the consumer affect the consumer׳s buying decision. A consumer who receives a discount or has a high income is more likely to buy multiple services or select more services from the current service provider into his basket than a consumer who does not receive discount or has lower income. Service providers, cable TV operators and telecommunications carriers can also lock-in their consumer and expand their market position from one particular service to another using bundling service. Thus, this may be the time for the telecommunications regulator to consider the market definition.     

Formal standards-setting for global telecommunications and information services. Towards an institutional regime transformation?

This paper reviews the nature and economic significance of the activities carried on by standards development organizations (SDOs), focusing in particular upon the telecommunications and information technology standards-setting work of the government-created public and quasi-public institutions, and the international treaty organizations that constitute the formal standards sector. It documents the current sources of tension within this regime and appraises various proposals for organizational reforms. There are especially pressing needs for adaptations of the inherited institutional mechanisms for technical coordination to provide for inter-operability in the development of new telecommunication networks and services. Among the manifold sources of strain on the old structure, those which seem at once most fundamental and potentially most threatening are the recently heightened industrial perceptions of the potential strategic value of standards as tools of business competition and national policy, and the incentives for ‘institutional by-pass’ that have been created by the rapid proliferation of technological possibilities. The paper considers some alternative organizational models for negotiated standard-setting that might be able to withstand, and better harness these forces for the continued production of standards as public goods.     

Interactive telecommunications

A note on the development, scope and aims of a new degree course in telecommunications at the Schools of the Arts of New York University.     

Competition in telecommunications

The author examines the impact of competition from both domestic and international perspectives. He provides a critique of the pro-competition argument, although a number of advantages of competition are also outlined. The advantages are discussed in relation to equipment and services. International trends towards competition are then described and the disadvantages of such trends are debated in relation to cross-subsidization, interconnection, the telecommunications manufacturing industry, and the market structure. Finally, competition in the international arena is discussed.     

Impact of wireless telecommunications standards and regulation on the evolution of wireless technologies and services over Internet protocol

Beginning with the historical role and importance of multi-physical standards in wireless telecommunications for the future in the US, Japan and Europe, this paper provides a cohesive vision of how wireless communication, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) is likely to develop. Also covered in this paper are its benefits, the technical and regulatory support required to realize this vision and an assessment of its potential impact on the structure of the telecommunications industry. Although the competitive structure of the Internet is relatively open, several factors, such as frequency allocation policy and radio interface standards, could block the efficient evolution of wireless services to an IP platform. The paper proposes two major technical requirements to enable effective competition in wireless VoIP and achieve greater technical productivity.