Telecommunications Policy, High Definition Television, and U.S. Competitiveness

Telecommunications Policy, High Definition Television, and U.S. Competitiveness

Author: Robert B. Cohen

Publisher:

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 64

ISBN-13:

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New policies are needed for the U.S. telecommunications industry. The continuation of current policies--which emphasize customer and convenience services to the near exclusion of developing domestically produced equipment and improving infrastructure--will constrain the domestic growth of U.S. corporations and make it difficult for smaller American firms to use sophisticated equipment and services. A new policy regime should focus on linkages between network infrastructure development and technological innovations in equipment, fostering the joint development of both. International competitors such as Japan and the European Community have already established policies to upgrade the existing telecommunications infrastructure and lead in the development of strategic technologies such as high definition television (HDTV). These competitors are also rapidly organizing an Integrated Services Digital Network to be a cornerstone for the development of future high technology industries. The United States needs a comprehensive and coherent approach to the industrial issues and regulatory concerns facing its telecommunications industry. One immediate step should be to establish an independent Department of Communications that would create a unified approach to the nation's economic base in the next decades. (31 references) (GL)


After Divestiture

After Divestiture

Author: Paul Teske

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 1990-07-05

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 9780791403242

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This book analyzes the politics of state regulatory decision-making in telecommunications after the AT&T divestiture in 1984. The author takes a political-economy approach that explains how interest groups and institutional factors have shaped different state policies. He shows that the structure and composition of state regulatory institutions have important effects on pricing and competition in the telecommunications industry. The innovative methodology of this work combines qualitative empirical analysis from the entire U.S. with case studies of eight states. It identifies the deregulation winners and losers by examining the impact of changes in local and long-distance price structures on different groups, including users of telecommunications services, small businesses, residential consumers, and rural residents. The book includes recommendations for improving state policy.


Perspectives on the New Economics and Regulation of Telecommunications

Perspectives on the New Economics and Regulation of Telecommunications

Author: Institute for Research on Public Policy

Publisher: IRPP

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 452

ISBN-13: 9780886451745

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This volume is a compilation of papers reflecting many of the issues related to telecommunications that are being debated today and are likely to continue to be addressed in the next few years. The papers examine the ways in which economic and technological forces are changing the regulation of telecommunications and the characteristics of the industry itself. After an introduction on issues such as the information highway, industry consolidation, market integration, and constraints on new policies, the papers cover such topics as the changes in Canadian telecommunications and their economics, the role of telecommunications in productivity and competition, the business network concept as an alternative governance structure, competition policy, convergence of technologies, separation of infrastructure from services, European telecommunications policy, and the historical context in which Canada has handled earlier transformations of a technological nature.


The Politics of Telecommunications Regulation: The States and the Divestiture of AT&T

The Politics of Telecommunications Regulation: The States and the Divestiture of AT&T

Author: Jeffrey E. Cohen

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-07-26

Total Pages: 133

ISBN-13: 131548675X

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Originally published in 1992. This text is a work from a series entitled ' Bureaucracies, Public Administration and Public Policy. The Politics of Telecommunication regulation: The States and the Divestiture of AT&T is an example of high-quality policy analysis conducted at state level. It substitutes for simple theories of public policy more complex and interesting explanations and relies on massive and time-consuming data-gathering that gives careful attention to measurement issues, providing a sophisticated empirical analysis to evaluate the utility of public policy theories.


American Regulatory Federalism and Telecommunications Infrastructure

American Regulatory Federalism and Telecommunications Infrastructure

Author: Paul E. Teske

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-03-18

Total Pages: 195

ISBN-13: 131799308X

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During this era of construction of the information superhighway, this volume presents a prudent analysis of the pros and cons of continuing state regulation of telecommunications. While interested parties either attack or defend state regulation, careful scholarly analysis is required to strike the appropriate balance of regulatory federalism. Focusing on regulation in the 1990s, it uses a positive political economy perspective to analyze enduring state-federal conflicts and to weigh the justifications and explanations for continuing state telecommunications regulation, or for changing its structure. It also considers normative concerns and makes recommendations about how to improve telecommunications policy. Seriously concerned with assessing the problems surrounding cost burdens for different categories of consumers, market entry for different firms, economic growth and the information infrastructure, global competitiveness, and control over information, this volume attempts to provide answers to the following specific questions: * How are states regulating telecommunications in the brave new world of global markets, fiber optics, and digital technology? * Do states vary significantly in their regulatory models? * How are the politics of state and federal regulation different? * Would a different federal-state relationship better serve national telecommunications goals in the future? To tackle these critical questions, the scholarly perspectives of economists, lawyers, political scientists, and telecommunications consultants and practitioners are employed.


Competition, Regulation, and Convergence

Competition, Regulation, and Convergence

Author: Sharon E. Gillett

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 1999-09-01

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 1135661871

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The telecommunications industry has experienced dynamic changes over the past several years, and those exciting events and developments are reflected in the chapters of this volume. The Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (TPRC) holds an unrivaled place at the center of national public policy discourse on issues in communications and information. TPRC is one of the few places where multidisciplinary discussions take place as the norm. The papers collected here represent the current state of research in telecommunication policy, and are organized around four topics: competition, regulation, universal service, and convergence. The contentious competition issues include bundling as a strategy in software competition, combination bidding in spectrum auctions, and anticompetitive behavior in the Internet. Regulation takes up telephone number portability, decentralized regulatory decision making versus central regulatory authority, data protection, restrictions to the flow of information over the Internet, and failed Global Information Infrastructure initiatives. Universal service addresses the persistent gap in telecommunications from a socioeconomic perspective, the availability of competitive Internet access service and cost modeling. The convergence section concentrates on the costs of Internet telephony versus circuit switched telephony, the intertwined evolution of new services, new technologies, and new consumer equipment, and the politically charged question of asymmetric regulation of Internet telephony and conventional telephone service.


Quality and Reliability of Telecommunications Infrastructure

Quality and Reliability of Telecommunications Infrastructure

Author: William H. Lehr

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-12-16

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 1135447861

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In the last decade, the technology, regulation, and industry structure of our information infrastructure (telephone services, cable and broadcast television, and myriad new data and information services) have changed dramatically. Since the break-up of AT&T's Bell System monopoly, telephone services in the United States are no longer purchased from a single firm. Advances in fiber optics, wireless communications and software-controlled switching are changing how communication services are provided. As the global economy grows more dependent on a hybrid mix of interconnected networks, public officials in the US and abroad are relinquishing control of the market. All of these changes are affecting the quality and reliability of the telecommunications infrastructure, but informed discussions of the public policy and economic issues are scarce. Deregulation and increased competition have lowered prices, but have service quality and reliability suffered? Do advanced network technologies which make it possible to offer a dizzying array of new services increase vulnerability to system-wide failures? Who should or is likely to bear the costs of increased -- or decreased -- service quality? This volume tackles the economic and public policy issues raised by these difficult questions for an audience of industry executives, scholars, and policymakers. Leading scholars and analysts examine such issues as the effects of network ownership on incentives to invest in quality improvements and/or strategies for quality-differentiated pricing in tomorrow's broadband, integrated networks. They analyze the quality of current telecommunications networks and the impact of re-regulation on cable television quality. The contributions range from new microeconomic theory to new empirical research. As such, the volume makes a valuable contribution to the public debate on network quality and reliability. It will be useful both as an introduction to newcomers and as a resource for more experienced researchers. As regulatory, industry and national barriers to integrated communications fall, these issues are likely to become even more important. The research presented here provides a solid foundation for further discussion.


Changing the Rules

Changing the Rules

Author: Robert W. Crandall

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Published: 2001-06-29

Total Pages: 444

ISBN-13: 9780815723103

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Since 1971 competition has begun to replace regulation as a governing force in the telecommunications industry. The breakup of the national telephone monopolies, technological advances, and the worldwide network in telecommunications have brought a revolution in the telecommunications equipment and services industries. These changes have forced legislators and regulators to rethink public policy toward communications. The papers in this book were first presented at a conference organized by Robert Crandall and Kenneth Flamm, pulling together a group of industry professionals and scholars to address the far-reaching implications of the upheaval in the communications industry. The contributors analyze the effects of this increasing competition on standardization, technical innovation, and international rivalry. Changing the Rules offers possible policy options and analyzes their potential effects on the future market structure and the competitive positions of the U.S. computer and communications industries.