Worldwide, postal and delivery economics is the subject of considerable interest. The postal industry's business model is in drastic need of change. Notably, the European Commission and member states are still wrestling with the problems of implementing liberalization of entry into postal markets, addressing digital competition, and maintaining the universal service obligation. In the United States, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 has, perhaps, exacerbated some of the problems faced by the United States Postal Service (USPS). Currently, the USPS has serious financial problems because of difficulties it faces in making changes and the failure of the Act to address problems that have been long-standing. Electronic competition is severe and affects post offices (POs) worldwide, which have been slow to address the threat. This book addresses this new reality and includes discussion of how POs may attempt to reinvent themselves. Parcels and packets will play a major role in developing new business models for postal operators. This book is of use not only to students and researchers interested in the field, but also to postal operators, consulting firms, utilities, regulatory commissions, Federal Government Departments and agencies of the European Union and other countries.

The recent European Council Directive 114/08 requested the EU Member States to perform an assessment aimed at the identification and designation of the so-called European Critical Infrastructures (ECI). Every analysis of the results of the "first round" of identifications and designations has only taken into account the numbers of ECIs effectively designated, consequently leaving aside all of the other elements related to this important path towards a harmonized vision of the "European Security." This work, with its unprecedented approach, focuses on the elements that have maximized or frustrated the ambitious European objectives and on the issues that might have prevented the directive reaching its full potential. Furthermore, the study offers an in-depth perspective on the lessons learned - including those that can be learned from the US pre-post 9/11 CIP policies - as well as an assessment of the state of play of the Member States after the implementation of the directive, together with predictions for future challenges.

After pioneering this technology and growing the market, COMSAT fell prey to changes in government policy and to its own lack of entrepreneurial talent. The author explores the factors which contributed to this rise and fall of COMSAT.

Hardbound. The telecommunications industry is being transformed by contradictory forces: on the one hand, the trend toward global expansion by carriers, and on the other hand, fragmentation and entry in local communications. These transformations represent two sides of the same issue: a blurring of market boundaries created through technical innovation, policy liberalization, user initiatives and entrepreneurialism. The result is a complex web of overlapping network definitions, product and service markets, carrier types, technical standards, government policies, financial arrangements, and cooperative ventures. This volume discusses the complexities of these bi-polar forces and maps out the policy issues which need to be addressed today and in the future.

After broadband access, what next? What role do metrics play in understanding "information societies"? And, more important, in shaping their policies? Beyond counting people with broadband access, how can economic and social metrics inform broadband policies, help evaluate their outcomes, and create useful models for achieving national goals? This timely volume not only examines the traditional questions about broadband, like availability and access, but also explores and evaluates new metrics more applicable to the evolving technologies of information access. Beyond Broadband Access brings together a stellar array of media policy scholars from a wide range of disciplines-economics, law, policy studies, computer science, information science, and communications studies. Importantly, it provides a well-rounded, international perspective on theoretical approaches to databased communications policymaking in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Showcasing a diversity of approaches, this invaluable collection helps to meet myriad challenges to improving the foundations for communications policy development.

This book explores the important role that economic performance measurement is playing in the regulation of network utilities in many countries today. The contributors to the book - researchers from academia, regulatory agencies and consulting firms - address the use of efficiency measures in price regulation and in assessing the effects of past regulatory reforms. Industries examined include electricity supply, water supply, telecommunications and airlines, across a range of countries including the USA, UK, Norway, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand.Performance Measurement and Regulation of Network Utilities is unique in that, unlike many other books in this area, it is devoted to the use of performance measurement in these regulatory settings. It is a timely contribution to the literature, given that performance measurement is an integral part of the new incentive regulation methods which have been adopted by many regulatory agencies around the world. Academics specialising in regulation and performance measurement and students of regulatory economics courses, organization studies and public sector economics will all find this book of great interest. It will also appeal to regulators, regulatory consultants and regulatory sections of major utilities.

The intersection between the competitive dynamics literature and the literature on technology and innovation management is an important area of research. Previous literature has focused on understanding the different types of innovations and how firms use these to improve their product performance. However, we are still way off from a comprehensive understanding of the competitive dynamics triggered by such decisions. This book offers various insights into the competitive dynamics of technology intensive industries, using the mobile phone industry as a reference setting of analysis. In particular, it explores which kind of competitive moves and countermoves have been taken by mobile phone vendors such as Nokia, Samsung, Motorola and Apple, as well as emerging rivals from developing countries, to defend their competitive position over the industry life cycle, and which factors have driven these actions. The book is divided into two parts. The first part offers a general perspective on the competitive dynamics literature. The second part consists of chapters on more specific issues related to the dynamics of competitive strategy in technology intensive industries, and in the mobile phone industry in particular.

With the demise of WorldCom amidst a flurry of accounting scandals dominating the front pages, and following hotly in the footsteps of the equally spectacular downfall of other telecoms giants including Global Crossing and Lucent Technologies in recent months, The Great Telecoms Swindle investigates the reasons behind a roller coaster ride that is set to continue for some time yet. Vivendi, France Telecom, Vodaphone and numerous other corporate behemoths all face testing and possibly life-threatening times that will demand radical solutions in the coming months.
The telecoms story is set to run and run and investors are set to continue to feel the heat. For a market that, as little as eighteen months ago amounted to a license to print money, the question 'what went wrong?' must urgently be asked. How could companies like Cisco Systems go from being paragons of virtue in the new corporate age to near pariahs embroiled in a welter of financial difficulties in such a short space of time? Is 'next generation telecoms' nothing more than a myth, a triumph of hype over reality? Tracking the rise and fall of the telecoms market from deregulation in the eighties through the advent of the mobile world, and on to broadband, 3G, and the mobile Internet the authors uncover what fuelled the boom, where the mistakes were made (by industry players and investors alike), and what if anything the future holds.
Taking the lid off the headlines, The Great Telecoms Swindle reveals and examines the real problems in the telecoms market today, and exposes an industry that is entirely unsure of its own future value proposition.

Telecommunication markets are characterized by a dynamic development of technology and market structures. The specific features of network-based markets, convergence of previously separate spheres and the complex task of market regulation put traditional theoretical approaches as well as current regulatory policies to the test. This book sheds light on some of the challenges ahead. It covers a vast range of subjects from the intricacies of market regulation to new markets for mobile and internet-related services. The diffusion of broadband technology and the emergence of new business strategies that respond to the technological and regulatory challenges are treated in the book 's 24 chapters.

Vodafone is one of the most successful global companies of the last 20 years, growing from holder of one of the first two mobile communications licences in the UK, to being a dominant global brand. Whilst its leadership, mergers and acquisitions, and marketing all are well documented, much less is known about how Vodafone really benefited from such endeavours, and how it managed the transformational organizational journey from national to truly global. In this fascinating insight the author provides a unique experiential view into the hidden globalization of Vodafone, in which was created a social network that was engaged in the acquisition and deployment of a global network of mobile technology that now serves a proportionate mobile customer base of 198.6 million (at 31 December 2006). This new book examines how Vodafone has led the industry to a global stage, sharing data and knowledge, negotiating commercial terms and operational excellence, all for significant global aggregation cost synergy advantage. The reader will learn about how the intra-organizational teams were formed within Vodafone and further cooperated within an informal virtual global interorganizational network organization; an invisible structure that gave Vodafone a unique economic advantage. If your global organization is considering undertaking similar transitions, then this book will prove invaluable.

This book offers the first comprehensive overview of contemporary systems for secure electronic/digital postage. It introduces a taxonomy of electronic postage systems and explains their security risks and countermeasures. The underlying cryptographic mechanisms are introduced and explained, and the industrial-scale electronic postage systems existing worldwide are sorted out with respect to this taxonomy. The author also discusses privacy and anonymous mail, the state of standardization of electronic postage, and the process of security evaluation and testing of electronic postage systems.

The traditionally separate Fixed, Mobile, and Internet sectors have been evolving recently toward a single sector, offering numerous implications for those involved in technology and business. It is therefore essential for telecommunication professionals to get a keen grasp of where the industry is heading. Providing a solid foundation in the industry, Introduction to Mobile Communications: Technology, Services, Markets explores the core requirements of modern mobile telecommunications-from markets to technology. It explains how wireless systems work, how mobility is supported, the underlying infrastructure, and what interactions are needed among the different functional components. The book also examines how mobile communications are evolving in order to meet the changing needs of users. The information provided in the book comes primarily from the four core modules of the Certificate in Mobile Communications Distance Learning program run by the Informa Telecoms Academy in London. Designed by a highly experienced training development team, the program examines the complex and fascinating world of mobile communications. Designed to give a broad picture of mobile communications, the book provides an excellent grounding for those involved in both business and engineering-leaving them much better equipped to fulfill roles within their current or prospective companies

The European Commission and its member states, along with many others, are wrestling with the problem of how to implement the scheduled liberalization of the postal sector while maintaining the universal service obligation. This book addresses some of these concerns. It is comprised of original essays chosen from among several dozen presented at the 13th Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics, which was held in Antwerp, Belgium, in June, 2005.

Most of us would consider the emergence of large-scale communication networks to be a twentieth-century phenomenon. The first nationwide data networks, however, were built almost two hundred years ago. At the end of the eighteenth century, well before the electromagnetic telegraph was invented, many countries in Europe had fully operational data communications systems, with altogether close to one thousand network stations.

This book gives a fascinating glimpse of the many documented attempts throughout history to develop effective means for long-distance communications. The oldest attempts date back to millennia before Christ, and include ingenious uses of homing pigeons, mirrors, flags, torches, and beacons.

The book then shows how Claude Chappe, a French clergyman, started the information revolution in 1794, with the design and construction of the first true telegraph network in France. Another chapter contains the first English translation of a remarkable document on the design of optical telegraphs networks, originally written in 1796 by the Swedish nobleman Abraham Niclas Edelcrantz.

Competitive Transformation of the Postal and Delivery Sector is an indispensable source of information and analysis on the current state of the postal and delivery sector. It offers current insights of leading researchers and practitioners into strategy and regulation as well as the economics of this sector. Issues addressed include national and international perspectives, financial viability, the universal service obligation, regulation, competition, entry, the role of scale and scope economies, the nature and role of cost and demand analysis in postal service, productivity, interaction of law and economics, human resources, transition and reform issues. The papers in the book were selected from the papers presented at the 11th Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics, Toledo, Spain, June 4-7, 2003.

This book provides a conceptual framework to understand and analyze the decline of the telecommunications industry and the rise of information industries. This includes information distribution, banking, advertising, computing, etc. and will use a value-based perspective to show the industry shaping dynamics. The integrative framework will cover issues relevant to all information industries including network externalities, lock in and switching costs, cost structure analysis, transactions costs and infomediaries.

Postal and Delivery Services: Delivering on Competition is an indispensable source of information and analysis on the current state of the postal and delivery sector. It offers current insight into strategy, regulation as well as the economics of this sector. Issues addressed include international postal policy, the universal service obligation, regulation, competition, entry, the role of scale and scope economies, the nature and role of cost and demand analysis in postal service, productivity, interaction of law and economics, human resources, transition and reform issues.

Mobile communications are about to enter the third stage in their development, widely known as 3G. This will bring always-on Internet access to mobile devices. This book investigates the history of mobile communications and explores the technological background to 3G in a user-friendly manner. It examines the licensing process throughout the world, and draws conclusions about the prospects for 3G through a comprehensive analysis of the issues that have been raised so far.

When Postmaster General Creswell penned his concern about the impact 2 of electronic diversion on his postal organization, the year was 1872. General Creswell, it turned out, fretted unnecessarily. Facsimile did not achieve commercial viability until roughly a century after his tenure as Postmaster General and today that technology is fading rapidly from the communication scene. Moreover, it never appears to have significantly affected physical letter volumes. However, if General Creswell were leading a major postal organization today, he likely would feel threatened by the potential of Internet communication to cause electronic diversion of physical mail. Should recent technology developments cause the oft-predicted (but so far incorrect) inflection point that would mark the beginning of declining mail volumes. the implications from a management standpoint will be profound. The relatively fixed nature of postal costs suggest that volume declines must be offset though improved productivity, reduced cost of inputs, revenue from new products that share common costs, or reduced level of universal service.

The postal systems in Europe, as well as in other industrialised and non industrialised countries, are currently undergoing radical changes in their institutional set-up, competitive behaviors, productive and distributive processes, range of services offered. The study of these changes and of the strategic options that become available to the different operators in this field is interesting. And this is so not only per se for the postal system but also in the perspective of the banking system and for the wider financial field, which interacts with the postal sector within a framework of competion and collaboration.

This book shows how the hybrid model, which uses both market and committee mechanisms, explains standard setting and firm competition in the mobile communications industry. The hybrid model explains why certain mobile communication standards like GSM have become global standards while others, for example digital standards supposed by US firms, have not become global standards. The hybrid model also explains why Nokia is the leading producer of mobile phones and Ericsson the leading producer of mobile infrastructure.

Future Directions in Postal Reform brings together leading practitioners, world-wide postal administrations, and the courier industry, as well as a number of regulators, academic economists, mailers, and lawyers, to examine some of the major policy and regulatory issues facing the postal and delivery industry. Issues addressed include international postal policy; the universal service obligation; regulation; competition, entry, and the role of scale and scope economies; the nature and role of cost analysis in postal service; productivity; interaction of law and economics; and future technologies and service standards.

The telecommunications industry is experiencing a worldwide explosion of growth as few other industries ever have. However, as recently as a decade ago, the bulk of telecommunications services were delivered by the traditional telephone network, for which design and analysis principles had been under steady development for over three-quarters of a century. This environment was characterized by moderate and steady growth, with an accompanying slower development of new network equipment and standardization processes. In such a near-static environment, attention was given to optimization techniques to squeeze out better profits from existing and limited future investments. To this end, forecasts of network services were developed on a regular planning cycle and networks were optimized accordingly, layer by layer, for cost-effective placement of capacity and efficient utilization. In particular, optimization was based on a fairly stable set of assumptions about the network architecture, equipment models, and forecast uncertainty. This special edition is devoted to heuristic approaches for telecommunications network management, planning, and expansion. We hope that this collection brings to the attention of researchers and practitioners an array of techniques and case studies that meet the stringent time to market' requirements of this industry and which deserve exposure to a wider audience. Telecommunications will face a tremendous challenge in the coming years to be able to design, build, and manage networks in such a rapidly evolving industry. Development and application of heuristic methods will be fundamental in our ability to meet this challenge.

Current Directions in Postal Reform brings together leading practitioners, worldwide postal administrations, and the courier industry as well as a number of regulators, academic economists, mailers and lawyers, to examine some of the major policy and regulatory issues facing the postal and delivery industry. Issues addressed include international postal policy; the universal service obligation; regulation; competition, entry, and the role of scale and scope economies; the nature and role of cost analysis in the postal service; productivity; interaction of law and economics; and service standards.