Telecommunications Environment Research Articles

Project 'Clear Skies': Teaching Computer Science by Computer Based Training and Electronic Messaging in China

This paper describes the first five months of a computer-based training project which is using Canadian technology to teach a first-year-honours course in Computer Science at East China Normal University in Shanghai. The project has two objectives: to demonstrate that a Canadian courseware and delivery system can function in the Chinese educational and telecommunications environment; to study the feasibility of adapting the CBT system for the creation and delivery of courseware in the Chinese language. The courseware used in the project was developed co-operatively by Softwords and North Island College, and has been demonstrated to be effective in a Canadian environment. However, North Island College has created a delivery system which is well suited to the many small communities it serves. East China Normal University, in contrast, is located in the city of Shanghai which has a population equal to a half that of all of Canada. These differences help clarify common implementation problems, and the concept of CBT implementation engineering is discussed. Ten substantive factors are identified that can affect the implementation process. Nine of these factors have been identified as relevant during Project 'Clear Skies' and dealt with successfully.

Library Education in a Telecommunications Environment: A North Carolina Perspective

Library Education in a Telecommunications Environment: A North Carolina Perspective

Leveling the playing field in international satellite communications

This article addresses policy issues raised by the introduction of competition in the international satellite industry. The monopoly/monopsony interests of INTELSAT and its members are discussed, and strategies INTELSAT has used to protect its market are analyzed. Differences in regulatory and legal structures between the domestic and international telecommunications environment pose problems for new entrants. The author outlines a series of policy actions that the U.S. government could take to create a “level playing field” for international satellite competition.

Economic Analysis of Fiber Versus Alternative Media

The paper presents economic analysis of single-mode and multimode fiber optic cables in the telecommunications environment. Fiber optic cables are economically compared to alternative transmission media including twisted pair copper cables, screened copper cables, coaxial cables, and various radio facilities. Economic sensitivity to growth rates and digital office integration is performed to investigate variables influencing the economic study.

The international telecommunications environment

The use of international telecommunications services involves a complex of the carrier organizations which provide the services, the governmental agencies which regulate the services, and the standards bodies which produce the technical specifications that make interconnection possible. This article surveys these organizations and their activities, with emphasis on data-communications services. © 1986 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The international telecommunications environment

The use of international telecommunications services involves a complex of the carrier organizations which provide the services, the governmental agencies which regulate the services, and the standards bodies which produce the technical specifications that make interconnection possible. This article surveys these organizations and their activities, with emphasis on data‐communications services. © 1986 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Integrated Broad-Band Communication Systems in Belgium

Belgian politicians, the National Telecommunications Administration (RTT), and the telecommunication industry in general fully realize the major economic, industrial, and social importance of an advanced telecommunications infrastructure for the future of the country. A national effort is therefore underway. This paper describes the specific Belgian telecommunications environment, its development towards an ISDN infrastructure, and evolution towards the integration of telecommunication and distribution services into a uniform broad-band communication network. The present network structures for both telecommunication and distribution services are briefly discussed in this paper. Furthermore, plans and experiments in the area of ISDN are also described. Explanations related to the basic concepts of a national integrated broad-band communication network and possible architectures for a demonstration project are given.

Issues in telecommunications planning

In planning a telecommunications environment, many factors need to be taken into consideration. The volatility of products and services, the evolution and adoption of standards and the effect of these changes on staff cause difficulties. These details are discussed, and it is stressed that telecommunications should be positively managed, rather than merely administered, and that the decision-makers should remain openminded and flexible.

Implementation of a marketplace approach to broadcast regulation

Deregulation is a frequently used term within the telecommunications industry in the United States. Advocated by Chairman Mark Fowler of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the emphasis of deregulation is to let the marketplace dictate the economic and technological forces in the telecommunications environment. Through reduced governmental burdens, a marketplace approach could promote a social Darwinism philosophy in weeding out the weak competition and thereby establishing economic prices at the most competitive level in the telecommunications field. This article first addresses the marketplace approach to broadcast regulation in terms of Congressional and FCC actions. Then, factors outside the FCC that shape the telecommunications industry will be discussed. Last, marketplace “unregulation” in the 1980's will be explained.

Does monopoly mean stagnation?

Through a case study of the telecommunications environment in France, the President of the European Conference of PTT Administrations sets out his views on monopoly and deregulation. He challenges the view that a telecommunications monopoly is an obstacle to progress, arguing that each country must evolve the system that is best suited to its economic, cultural and sociopoltical contexts.

AT&T and the consent decree

For years AT&T has been accused of being too big, too powerful and too pervasive. Since the late 1960s, FCC decisions aimed at introducing limited competition in some areas of the telecomunications market have eroded AT&T's monopoly position. Then, in 1974, the Department of Justice filed its antitrust suit seeking to dismantle the Bell System. In January 1982, AT&T signed a Consent Decree requiring them to divest the local portions of its 22 Bell operating companies. In this comment, Charles Brown (Chairman of the Board of AT&T) describes the build-up to AT&T's decision to agree to divestiture, and outlines how AT&T os adapting to the new telecommunications environment.

UK strategy - the momentum of change

In July 1980, the UK government set into motion a programme of reform for telecommunications. The British Telecommunications Act 1981 maintains British Telecom's exclusive privilege but provides for market entry in network transmission, services and attachments. The process continues with a new Telecommunications Bill, currently being considered by Parliament, which will make shares available to the public and allow for the creation of a new Office of Telecommunications (OFTEL). Jonathan Solomon considers the impact of the new legislation on the UK telecommunications environment.

Geopolitics of Broadcasting

Abstract In negotiating for an ordered international telecommunication environment, governments need a well-planned, consistent policy shaped by technical accuracy, flexibility, and sensitivity to multilateral as well as bilateral differences.

Switched Communications for the Department of Defense

The Department of Defense, in response to its unique telecommunications needs and in an effort to take advantage of advances in technology, has embarked on an evolutionary, systematized program to develop and procure electronic, software controlled circuit switches. Two development programs presently underway will result in the fielding of two kinds of state-of-the-art circuit switches; a large hybrid circuit switch which will accommodate the existing analog telecommunication environment and provide the means to evolve into the digital world of the future, and a pair of smaller digital circuit switches which, while providing limited accommodation of analog equipment, are primarily intended for the later stages of the digital evolution. The characteristics and capabilities of the circuit switches are described in terms of both architecture and implementation.

The Structure of Interactions--an Exploratory Study of the Organization of Networks

The engineering of telecommunications networks proceeds from an estimate of potentially offered loads in the descriptive form of input-output tables, through a functional design stage, to the redevelopment of inadequate existing facilities or, occasionally, the implementation of entirely new ones. Networks are, by definition, highly structured entities. Thus, the intermediate stage in the engineering process is one of analysis of demand statements for embedded but not directly evident structure. This paper introduces a gross measure of organization or structure, then describes an arithmetic procedure for the detection of structural pattern in interaction systems. It concludes with illustrative examples and a program for further research. While the problem examined here is framed in the telecommunications environment, the argument is not particular to communications and may, therefore, bear on social, transportation and like interaction systems. Since organizations are control systems characterized by their information flows, these can be studied as information networks.