The African telecommunications union: A Pan-African approach to telecommunications reform

This article examines the organisational structure and strategic plans of the African Telecommunications Union (ATU). Although the ATU has been restructured to include private telecommunications entities as associate members, it remains essentially an inter-governmental agency. The article assesses the benefits of a regional approach to telecommunications reform and proposes that regional economic organisations replace the nation states as members of the ATU. Although the goals of the ATU, as articulated in its strategic plans are laudable, clearly defined benchmarks and specific strategies to achieve them are needed to make the organisation more effective.     

Cyprus: A new centre for telecommunications

A rapid expansion of telecommunications facilities on Cyprus in recent years is bringing the island to the fore as a focus for communications in the Middle East region. Its strategic position in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, a communications infrastructure well in advance of that offered by most of the surrounding countries, and fully developed ties with European and Arab countries, are accelerating this already pronounced trend.     

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.     

London calling: A policy for telecommunications after privatization

With the UK government's plan to privatize British Telecom moving forward seemingly without obstacle, Gareth Locksley examines the implications for London. Rather than concentrate on the arguments against privatization, this article considers a post-privatization strategy for the capital based on the need for a universally accessible system for the whole community.     

Predicting divestiture of unrelated acquisitions: an integrative model of ex ante conditions

The majority of unrelated acquisitions are divested shortly after their purchase. Often, those acquisitions-turned-divestitures result in strategic, organizational, and financial losses for both the acquiring and the acquired companies. To consider how such divestitures can be avoided, this study examined some of the differences between divested and retained unrelated acquisitions. The study integrated four explanations for why unrelated acquisitions occur and related them to the fates of such acquisitions. Unrelated acquisitions were hypothesized to be divested when they fail to realize some motives and expectations that prevailed at the time of acquisition. Two samples of unrelated acquisitions (135 from 1977 and 140 from 1987) were tracked over 5-year periods. The results indicate that motives and conditions at the time of acquisition, and changes in those motives and conditions, were related to the fates of the acquisitions. In addition, the relative importance of those factors varied across the periods studied. Discriminant analyses further demonstrate that most divestitures could be predicted correctly on the basis of those motivations and conditions. The implications of the findings are discussed. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.     

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.     

At last! A new Canadian telecommunications act

Despite profound changes in regulatory jurisdiction over telecommunications, in industry structure and in the basis on which service is provided, there has until very recently been no change in governing legislation in Canada, which dated back to the turn of the century. This article seeks to explain why the legislature, even in a parliamentary system of government, lagged behind the courts, the regulators and the carriers in bringing about industry reorganization. It then examines a number of the more significant provisions of the new legislation, which was eventually passed in June 1993, and concludes with some general observations on the role of legislation in industry liberalization.     

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.     

Economic growth,telecommunications development and productivity growth of the telecommunications sector: Evidence around the world

This paper studies the relationships between economic growth, telecommunications development and productivity growth of the telecommunications sector in different countries and regions of the world. In particular, this study assesses the impact of mobile telecommunications on economic growth and telecommunications productivity. The results indicate that there is a bidirectional relationship between real gross domestic product (GDP) and telecommunications development (as measured by teledensity) for European and high-income countries. However, when the impact of mobile telecommunications development on economic growth is measured separately, the bi-directional relationship is no longer restricted to European and high-income countries. This study also finds that countries in the upper-middle income group have achieved a higher average total factor productivity (TFP) growth than other countries. Countries with competition and privatization in telecommunications have achieved a higher TFP growth than those without competition and privatization. The diffusion of mobile telecommunications services is found to be a significant factor that has improved the TFP growth of the telecommunications sector in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).     

US telecommunications regulation: Will technology decide?

Twenty years ago, the telecommunications industry was an established regulated monopoly. But improvements in technology and reductions in costs have ripped apart the premises of natural monopoly and the economic rationale for public utility regulation. The authors review past US telecommunications policy and question the assumptions of the current search for a policy for the future. They believe that, for the industry to develop, institutions and restraints need to be removed.     

《金刚经》谱写科技魅力

金刚经--新科技表达式 被誉为"海天佛国"的普陀山位于舟山群岛东南部,这里主持方丈的宝库中有一份特殊的藏品--<金刚经>,它不是普通的<金刚经>,而是中国首部全彩色丝织古籍作品,融书画艺术、佛教文化、丝织艺术于一体、获大世界基尼斯织造组织之最、花型之最,也被国家图书馆、中国丝绸博物馆、中国纺织工程学会,中国佛教协会等珍藏和展览,是佛教文化和丝织文化的完美结合.     

A conceptual framework for public-private interplay in the telecommunications sector

Public activity in the telecommunications industry has experienced important transformations in the last decade: “reinvolvement” in infrastructure deployment, “innovative” boosting measures, and decentralisation of some decisions. Conceptually, even more important than the measures themselves is the fact that private agents often participate in their realisation and execution. This paper reviews how justifications for public action that would apply to any economic activity area have modelled the public-private relationship in the telecommunications sector. Subsequently, it focuses on the analysis of the new spaces for public-private collaboration that are currently opening up.     

Statistical precision of productivity change: A bootstrap application to Taiwan’s telecommunications industry

This study investigates the impacts of telecommunications policy on productivity change of the Chunghwa Telecom Company (CHT) from pre- to post-privatization. A three-stage method is employed to measure the productivity scores of CHT during the period 1966–2008. The Malmquist productivity index (MPI) is used in the first stage to assess the productivity of CHT. In the second stage, the statistical confidence intervals of productivity scores of CHT were obtained using the bootstrapping algorithm. Finally, the Chow test and multiple regression models were also utilized to investigate the impact of telecommunications policy on productivity change of CHT. Results of empirical examination indicate that on average TFP scores obtained by the bootstrapping technique are smaller than those obtained by the MPI technique. In addition, there is no difference in productivity change of CHT between pre- and post-privatization according to the MPI and bootstrapping MPI. The results show that the effect of privatization on productivity change is insignificant. Instead, the operational efficiency of CHT is affected by the government involvement in decision-making under its private/public joint ownership, which causes CHT to be a firm with little managerial profit orientation.     

Communications and telecommunications: Integrated approaches to communications planning

The author argues for an integrated approach to the formulation of communication policies. He suggests that the term ‘communication planning’ signals changes in attitudes to planning in general, breaking through the boundaries of technical or quantitative exclusivity into a broader, more interdisciplinary approach. After describing the main characteristics of the integrated approach, he examines the Unesco Afghanistan survey as an example of recent work on the methodology of overall communication system planning. The author then discusses the issue of technology transfer in the context of communications, and concludes with an analysis of the trend towards the international coordination of planning approaches.     

Mergers and synergy: Lessons from contemporary telecommunications history

Using contemporary historical data, the analysis reported in this article has evaluated the impact of the various mergers of the local exchange companies that took place between 1988 and 2001 on financial performance. Performance was measured using an important metric normally used to measure synergies of firms undergoing mergers. The analysis has revealed that the relative cash flow variable for firms worsened after mergers. If the synergy motive had been primary in influencing merger decisions, and also approvals, then the past mergers approved led to decreased performance levels and corresponding welfare losses for American consumers; thus, the mergers of communications common carriers were not in the interest of the public, the shareholders and customers. On the other hand, given the negative outcomes, views that the quiet life, hubris or a quest for possible market power motivated the mergers could be discarded. The lessons of such contemporary historical analysis have suggested that antitrust oppositions to contemporary telecommunications sector mergers may have basis in fact and salient evidence.     

Aspects of innovation: Public policy issues in telecommunications development

The author considers the potential for innovation in various telecommunication technologies. Unfamiliar concepts may be generated by the introduction of a new technology, the uses of technology, abuses and their consequences, and cross-fertilisation with other fields. After discussing possible futures, he analyses the implications of a general model of change associated with the introduction of a major technology, and concludes by stressing the urgent need for research aimed at anticipating desirable and undesirable impacts.