US Telecommunications Research Articles

Invisible Work of Telephone Operators: An Ethnocritical Analysis

This paper applies principles derived from ethnocriticism to help explain differential outcomes with different methods used to analyze the work of Directory Assistance telephone operators in a large US telecommunications company. The work of Directory Assistance operators provides a subtle case of computer-supported cooperative work. Collaborative work between operator and customer is supported and shaped by digitized-voice and database technologies. Our work also involved the introduction of additional voice-recognition technologies to this human-to-human collaboration. In a previous paper, we used methods from participatory design to show that knowledge work is a major component of the operators‘ conversations with customers. By contrast, other research using formal cognitive task analyses had described operators‘ work as routine and as involving no active problem solving. How had evidence that we had found so compelling been invisible to other analysts? I analyze the concept of ’’invisible work‘‘ as an attribute not of the work, but rather of the perspectives from which that work appeared to be invisible. Ethnocritical heuristics help us to contrast the analytical methods and their outcomes.

Light-handed regulation of access in Australia: negotiation with arbitration

Interconnection based on commercial negotiation subject to arbitration forms part of US and Australian telecommunications legislation. General infrastructure access in Australia is also governed by `light-handed’ regulation based on bargaining. This paper considers the potential outcomes of access regulations based on negotiation. Using an infinite period bargaining game with an outside regulatory option, we show that a range of potential equilibria can be supported by negotiation. Access seekers and access providers may fail to seize monopoly profits in equilibrium. The regulator can substantially influence the range of bargaining outcomes through both the expected outcome of arbitration and its interpretation of regulatory procedures. We consider alternative regulatory approaches consistent with the Australian legislation. The model presented in this paper uses the Australian regime as a template, but provides insight into the broader issue of `light-handed’ access regulation.

The Impact of Human Capital Quality on the Boundaries of the Firm in the US Telecommunications Industry

Based on firm-level data for local operating companies in the US telecommunications industry, this paper explores how human capital of higher quality enhances the firms' abilities to enjoy increasing returns and enables them to increase the scale of various activities. Specifically, the ability of telecommunications firms to increase the deployment of switches, enhance the infrastructure of lines and increase headcount is assessed. The payment of efficiency wages is meant to enable firms to attract human capital of higher quality. Based on the literature, the payment of efficiency wages is captured as the average wage payment per employee. After controlling for scale effects, human capital quality and other variables significantly impact the companies' abilities to exploit increasing returns and enhance the scale of their operations, as measured in a disaggregated manner, for a variety of activities. Copyright 1998 by Oxford University Press.

Strategic Invasion in Markets with Switching Costs

We investigate the role of consumer switching costs in a three‐stage model in which the entrant and the incumbent firm set prices sequentially and then the consumers decide from which firm to buy. We characterize the unique subgame perfect equilibrium and find that even an entrant with a higher marginal cost may profitably invade part of the market due to the existence of switching costs. Switching costs benefit both firms but harm consumers. This model is used to understand pricing behavior in the US telecommunications industry.

The Impact of the WTO Telecommunications Agreement on US and Japanese Telecommunications Regulations

The Impact of the WTO Telecommunications Agreement on US and Japanese Telecommunications Regulations

Fast Internet: An analysis about capacities, price structures and government intervention

While about 20% of all private households in the US had access to the Internet in 1997, the Internet penetration in Western Europe was significantly lower with little more than 5%. A key factor to explain the different penetration levels in the US and Western Europe is the pricing policy. In the US the pricing is heavily influenced by regulation. The flat rate pricing for local service stimulated rapid growth of the Internet. However, the regulatory regime that helped the Internet to succeed is now threatened by the same success. A comparison of the Internet in the US and the videotex systems deployed in France and Germany in the 1980s reveals an astonishing number of similarities. But there remains one significant difference, the pricing policy. Today, the telephony access network is perceived as a bottleneck by Internet users. Users demand more speed. Given the expected growth of the Internet and the demand for speed, the US telecommunications industry invests heavily in the local loop and sets up another four national long-distance networks. These investors do believe that demand for capacity will make a quantum leap.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 and Its Impact

This paper analyzes the effects on the implementation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (Act) on US telecommunications markets and is based on my forthcoming book with the same title. The Act is a milestone in the history of telecommunications in the United States. Coming 12 years after the breakup of ATT (ii) provide at a wholesale discount to competitors any service the ILEC provides; and (iii) charge reciprocal rates in termination of calls to their network and to networks of local competitors. Moreover, the Act requires that ILECs that came out of the Bell System meet a number of requirements, including a public interest test, before they may enter into the long distance market. Thus, the Act provides some safeguards against the export of ILEC monopoly power to other parts of the network. Numerous legal challenges to the Act and its implementation have been raised by the ILECs resulting in very slow implementation of the Act, and, in many cases, in no substantial implementation of the provisions of the Act. Thus, more than two years after the passage of the Act, there is very little entry and competition in local exchange markets. In response to the apparent failure of the implementation Act, there has been a wave of mergers in the US telecommunications industry.

The rise, fall and return or customer retention at MCI

Spotlights US telecommunications firm MCI and how it tries to retain its most valuable customers, in spite of severe rivalry from its US competitors Sprint and AT&T, which involved targeting customer prospects with cheques for $75 or more to switch supplier. Details how MCI used a slightly different tack to improve retention, involving delaying the joining reward by some months — ‘customer first’.

Social movement in Telecommunications: Rethinking the public service history of US telecommunications 1894–1919

Between 1894 and 1919 the U.S. telecommunications industry underwent a fundamental policy shift, from unprecedented private competition to regulated monopoly. This metamorphosis expressed not an evolving consensus, but a complex series of social conflicts over the structure and purpose of telecommunications. The most important outcome of these conflicts was to curtail grassroots political mobilizations to intervene in telecommunications policymaking.

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

Abstract 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?

Innovation and Obstacles: the Future of Computing

In this multidisciplinary glimpse forward, some of this decade's key players offer opinions on a range of topics- from what has driven progress, to where innovation will come from and to obstacles we have yet to overcome. In this excerpt from Visions for the Future of the Fields, a panel discussion held at the 10th anniversary of the US Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, experts identify critical issues for various aspects of computing. In the accompanying sidebars, some of the same experts elaborate on points in the panel discussion in mini-essays: David Clark, CSTB chairman, looks at the changes needed, as computing science research comes of age. The current context of computer science, Clark states, is shaped by past successes and chronic trouble spots. Mary Shaw, Carnegie Mellon University, examines challenges for software system designers. Shaw states that disintermediation-the direct connection of users and their software-has created new problems for software system designers. Robert Lucky, Bellcore, looks at IP dial tone, a new infrastructure for the Internet. Lucky states that data traffic will soon eclipse voice traffic, portending not just a revolution in technology but in the very basis of telecommunications economics. Donald Greenberg, Cornell University, rounds out the essays with an outlook on computer graphics. Greenberg states that by 2025 we will have the technology to produce realistic real-time images at resolutions up to or beyond the limits of our visual perception.Finally, in an interview with William Wulf, president of the US National Academy of Engineering, Computer explores the roots of innovation and the broader societal aspects that will ultimately drive innovation in the near term.

Opportunities vs incentives to discriminate in the US telecommunications industry

In an industry where vertically integrated firms are allowed to compete with rivals in the downstream market, policy makers are naturally concerned with the risk of discrimination and anti-competitive behavior. This paper argues to the contrary, that in the current environment, the vertically integrated Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) have no incentive to discriminate against their downstream competitors, the inter-exchange carriers (IXCs). In fact, they may have economic incentives to reduce rather than raise the costs of their rivals. They may also prefer more competitors in the long distance market to fewer. Furthermore, should the regulatory authority impose more stringent profit-sharing constraints on the RBOCs in the exchange excess market and delay RBOC entry into the long distance market, this will only exacerbate the risk of discrimination and reduce consumers' surplus.

Ameritech rings the changes

As the speed of change in the business world continues to increase, it is clear that few companies can afford to slow the momentum of continuous transformation merely to give themselves time to find and install a new chief executive. The experience of US telecommunications firm Ameritech illustrates that, by simultaneously handling radical transformation and succession of the chief executive, the results can be more effective than if each is undertaken separately. The company reshaped itself and appointed a new chief executive, while achieving five years of record earnings.

IMT-2000 standards: radio aspects

One of the key characteristics of IMT-2000 is the advanced radio technologies that will offer a whole new range of capabilities to the users of international mobile telecommunications. This article starts by comparing the significant differences between second-generation mobile systems and the major objectives envisioned for IMT-2000, with particular emphasis on the satellite component. It also describes the flexible modular architecture for IMT-2000, which will facilitate the introduction and evolution of new capabilities. The article overviews the technology facilitators that, by the year 2000, will greatly assist the economic implementation of these new systems. Finally, the ITU process for the selection of radio technologies that will fulfil these ambitious requirements is also outlined.

Using Telecommunications for Competitive Advantage—the Approach of the European Multinationals

This paper looks at the business drivers facing European companies and the way these drivers are changing their use of telecommunications. The findings are based on Ovum’s European Telecommunications Users Panel. This consists of over 100 international and multinational companies providing information to Ovum five times a year on their changing use of telecommunications. The paper looks at trends from the telecommunications manager’s viewpoint. It identifies three main forces which affect him: the business strategies of his organisation which, with improvements in economic climate, are moving from cost cutting to global business expansion. the changing information systems requirements of his organisation, where the demand for high bandwidth data services is growing rapidly the changing patterns of supply of telecommunication services—in terms of products available, price and quality of supply. Here competition is changing the situation rapidly Overall the paper shows that the role of the telecommunications manager in Europe is changing. Up until now the telecommunications manager has dealt with the operational and technical issues involved in running a private network for his company. Now he is adopting more of a strategic, business oriented role in which he matches business and information system needs to the most effective telecommunications solutions, selected from a range of competing suppliers.

US telecommunications: Industries in transition

Telecommunications in the US is undergoing a revolution. Corporations are attempting to leverage their competencies in the deregulated environment in order to enhance their competitive position. While the eventual results of this flurry of partnerships that has recently occurred are uncertain, there are certain trends that are becoming increasingly apparent. This paper represents an essay on the telecommunications industry (or its converging associated industries) and describes its history and evolving structure. Fifty-four partnerships are examined in an attempt to systematically examine an industry in transition. Key implications of these partnerships are also discussed.

Scale efficiencies in US telecommunications: An empirical investigation

In this paper we evaluate scale efficiency patterns of local operating companies in the US telecommunications industry. Scale efficiency is defined as the ability of each company to operate as close to its most productive scale size as possible, and is calculated using data envelopment analysis. The analysis of scale efficiencies is conducted for a set of 39 local operating companies, over six time periods: 1975, 1978, 1981, 1984, 1987 and 1990. During these time periods, several technical and institutional changes took place in the industry which are likely to have had an impact on the abilities of the companies to exploit feasible scale efficiencies, and we find that scale efficiencies have steadily increased over these time periods. We also establish that the Bell operating companies are no different from the independent companies in their ability to be scale efficient; single-state firms are relatively more scale efficient; line digitization, during the periods studied, has not significantly impacted scale efficiency; and firms belonging to multi-company parents are more scale efficient. Additionally, policy regime changes, such as the introduction of intra-LATA toll market competition and incentive regulation schemes, have positively impacted firms' abilities to attain scale efficiency, while micro-segment competition in local markets have, so far, not had the expected impact.

Scale efficiencies in US telecommunications: An empirical investigation

Scale efficiencies in US telecommunications: An empirical investigation

New Definitions and Measures of Telecommunciations Access

Current definitions of telecommunications access are antiquated and overly simplistic. They overlook technological alternatives, overlaps, and interdependencies as well as patterns of usage and the integration of usage into daily lives. Ethnographic observation of communication behavior can be used to construct social indicators of telecommunications access and usage that are based on theories about communication and behavior, not technologies.

Users' rights? The multilateral rules on access to telecommunications

Abstract Services industries rank among the most intensive users of telecommunications. The multilateral trade system recognizes this in the Annex on Telecommunications of the General Agreement on Trade in Services. The Annex guarantees suppliers of all liberalized commercial services reasonable and non-discriminatory access to basic telecommunications networks and services offered by all public telecommunications operators, whether or not they are government-owned or monopolies. This guarantee benefits telecommunications users engaged in any kind of services, including value-added and basic telecommunications. The Annex, along with some negotiating history, is explained, as are some of the ways users can benefit.