Focusing on the European telecommunications sector, which holds a vital strategic position in an economy that relies on information-processing activities, this book highlights the largely untapped skills and potential contribution women employees can make to total quality programmes. It explains how the principle of equality-driven total quality can be extended to encompass the full diversity of a workforce, and how the principles involved can be applied to other industrial sectors.

Identifying a form of government intervention in social and economic affairs called public service liberalism, Alan Stone looks to that ideology to confront the problems of the 1990s and beyond. He shows in this fascinating case study that the policy has been effective in the past: the American telephone industry from its inception until 1934 is an illustration of how public service liberalism served both economic efficiency and a complex structure of public values. Stone depicts the stages by which public service liberalism was replaced by less adequate policies and suggests ways that it could be successfully restored. Furthermore, Stone demonstrates that government-business relationships like the one that prevailed in the telephone industry were common in the nineteenth and the early twentieth century. He argues that this period was not an era of laissez-faire, as is often alleged, but that its economic energy and extraordinary technological progress were accompanied by complete acceptance of certain kinds of government intervention. Challenging the presuppositions not only of the new ideologists of deregulation, privatization, and competition but also of the practitioners of what he calls the "sanctimonious muddle" of present-day liberalism, Stone demonstrates that public service liberalism could help resolve current problems, such as those in the savings and loan institutions and the cable television industry.

Originally published in 1991.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

In February 1997, 69 countries accounting for 95 percent of world telecommunications traffic agreed to open their basic telecommunications service markets. In April 1997, 28 countries accounting for 80 percent of world trade in information technology (IT) goods agreed to eliminate tariffs on IT goods by January 2000. These two agreements represent significant steps toward global telecommunication liberalization. The agreements also mark the beginning of new battles that will determine the extent of competition and reform in the telecommunications industry in the 21st century. Although implementation of the two pacts will be phased in over several years, some signatory countries are already facing a backlash from local telecommunications companies and equipment suppliers. Hence the issue remains highly contentious around the world. In this volume, leading scholars from different countries offer their assessments of the two new agreements. They also predict the evolution of the telecommunications industry in the years ahead. The volume provides essential background on future developments in this dynamic and crucial sector, and suggests ways in which it can be shaped to provide maximum benefits for the world economy.

The history of the telegraph - the men and women who made it - and its relevance to the current Internet debate Beginning with the Abbe Nollet's famous experiment of 1746, when he successfully demonstrated that electricity could pass from one end to the other of a chain of two hundred monks, Tom Standage tells the story of the spread of the telegraph and its transformation of the Victorian world. The telegraph was greeted by all the same concerns, hype, social panic and excitement that now surround the Internet, and Standage provides both a fascinating insight into the past and a context in which to think rather differently of today's concerns. Standage has a wonderful prose style and an excellent eye for the telling and engaging story. Popular history at its best.

Plunkett's Telecommunications Industry Almanac is the only complete reference guide to the telecommunications technologies and companies that are changing the way the world communicates today. This massive reference book's market research section provides our famous trends analysis, as well as major statistical tables. You will receive an abundance of data on statistics, new telecommunications technologies, markets, the Internet, land lines, VOIP, unified communications and leading telecommunications companies. In the corporate profiles section, you'll receive vital details on the Telecommunications 350 Firms, the largest, most successful corporations in all facets of the telecommunications business on a worldwide basis, both public and private. These in-depth profiles include corporate names, addresses, phone and fax numbers, web sites, growth plans, competitive advantage, financial histories and up to 27 executive contacts by title. You will also find information regarding local exchange and long distance telephone service markets and trends, wireless and cellular telephone markets and trends, satellite telecommunications, Wi-Fi, telephone industry equipment, software and support. You'll find a complete overview, industry analysis and market research report in one superb, value-priced package.

The completion of the Transcontinental Telegraph in 1861 completed telegraphy's mile-by-mile trek across the West. In addition to linking the coasts, the telegraph represented an extraordinary American effort in many fields of endeavor to know, act upon, and control a continent. Merging new research with bold interpretation, James Schwoch details the unexplored dimensions of the frontier telegraph and its impact. The westward spread of telegraphy entailed encounters with environments that challenged Americans to acquire knowledge of natural history, climate, and a host of other fields. Telegraph codes and ciphers, meanwhile, became important political, military, and economic secrets. Schwoch shows how the government's use of commercial networks drove a relationship between the two sectors that served increasingly expansionist aims. He also reveals the telegraph's role in securing high ground and encouraging surveillance. Both became vital aspects of the American effort to contain, and conquer, the West's indigenous peoples-and part of a historical arc of concerns about privacy, data gathering, and surveillance that remains pertinent today. Entertaining and enlightening, Wired into Nature explores an unknown history of the West.

This international volume presents a comprehensive, comparative study of the transformation of the European telecommunications industry from 1990 to the present. The book focuses on the old incumbent operators and their dramatic change from state agencies to listed companies. It analyzes the liberalization process, as well as the corporatization and privatization of these companies. The contributors assess the conditions for the transformations taking place; the driving forces for change; the effects to management, the efforts of the EU during these processes, and ultimately, the role of the private owner. Political science publications have all but excluded analysis of the newly privatized companies; their contribution to the liberalization process both before and after privatization; and the interplay between the national political and company levels. The book redresses this shortcoming, and also features a double empirical focus in that the main national incumbents in Europe are analyzed and compared to Telenor, the Norwegian former incumbent.

Plunkett's Telecommunications Industry Almanac is the only complete reference guide to the telecommunications technologies and companies that are changing the way the world communicates today. This massive reference book's market research section provides our famous trends analysis, as well as major statistical tables. You will receive an abundance of data on statistics, new telecommunications technologies, markets, the Internet, land lines, VOIP, unified communications and leading telecommunications companies. In the corporate profiles section, you'll receive vital details on the Telecommunications 500 Firms, the largest, most successful corporations in all facets of the telecommunications business on a worldwide basis, both public and private. These in-depth profiles include corporate names, addresses, phone and fax numbers, web sites, growth plans, competitive advantage, financial histories and up to 27 executive contacts by title. You will also find information regarding local exchange and long distance telephone service markets and trends, wireless and cellular telephone markets and trends, satellite telecommunications, Wi-Fi, telephone industry equipment, software and support. You'll find a complete overview, industry analysis and market research report in one superb, value-priced package.

Plunkett's Telecommunications Industry Almanac is the only complete reference guide to the telecommunications technologies and companies that are changing the way the world communicates today. This massive reference book's market research section provides our famous trends analysis, as well as major statistical tables. You will receive an abundance of data on statistics, new telecommunications technologies, markets, the Internet, land lines, VOIP, unified communications and leading telecommunications companies. In the corporate profiles section, you'll receive vital details on the Telecommunications 500 Firms, the largest, most successful corporations in all facets of the telecommunications business on a worldwide basis, both public and private. These in-depth profiles include corporate names, addresses, phone and fax numbers, web sites, growth plans, competitive advantage, financial histories and up to 27 executive contacts by title. You will also find information regarding local exchange and long distance telephone service markets and trends, wireless and cellular telephone markets and trends, satellite telecommunications, Wi-Fi, telephone industry equipment, software and support. You'll find a complete overview, industry analysis and market research report in one superb, value-priced package.

Telecommunication Services provides a holistic approach to understand telecommunications systems by addressing the emergence and domination of new digital services, consumer and economic dynamics, and the creation of content by service providers. * Includes services, underlying technologies, and internal capabilities for social network advertising * Covers market dynamics that determine the successes and failures of service offerings * Discusses the impact of smartphones (iPhone launch) on the telecommunications and mobile device industry

In 2011 the Philippines surpassed India to become what the New York Times referred to as "the world's capital of call centers." By the end of 2015 the Philippine call center industry employed over one million people and generated twenty-two billion dollars in revenue. In A Nation on the Line Jan M. Padios examines this massive industry in the context of globalization, race, gender, transnationalism, and postcolonialism, outlining how it has become a significant site of efforts to redefine Filipino identity and culture, the Philippine nation-state, and the value of Filipino labor. She also chronicles the many contradictory effects of call center work on Filipino identity, family, consumer culture, and sexual politics. As Padios demonstrates, the critical question of call centers does not merely expose the logic of transnational capitalism and the legacies of colonialism; it also problematizes the process of nation-building and peoplehood in the early twenty-first century.

Up until 1980 the South Pacific Republic of Vanuatu was a joint British-French colony, known as the New Hebrides Condominium. This dual colonial status has led many British and French colonial collectors to shun it and as a result fundamental aspects of its postal history have remained little studied. This is a great pity as the very nature of its Condominium status makes it a fascinating country to collect and research. In this book, we have attempted to redress this situation by analyzing the postal rates within the context of the evolution of its postal system. We also present a substantive revision of previous studies of New Hebrides postmarks and registration cachets / labels. The use of computer technology has also allowed us to resolve a number issues and to redefine several of the postmark subtypes. This has resulted in a comprehensive revision of the subject.

This book provides insights into infrastructure sector performance by focusing on the links between key indicators for utilities, and changes in ownership, regulatory agency governance, and corporate governance, among other dimensions. By linking inputs and outputs over the last 15 years, the analysis is able to uncover key determinants that have impacted performance and address why the effects of such dimensions resulted in significant changes in the performance of infrastructure service provision.

A thoroughly updated, comprehensive, and accessible guide to U.S. telecommunications law and policy, covering recent developments including mobile broadband issues, spectrum policy, and net neutrality. In Digital Crossroads, two experts on telecommunications policy offer a comprehensive and accessible analysis of the regulation of competition in the U.S. telecommunications industry. The first edition of Digital Crossroads (MIT Press, 2005) became an essential and uniquely readable guide for policymakers, lawyers, scholars, and students in a fast-moving and complex policy field. In this second edition, the authors have revised every section of every chapter to reflect the evolution in industry structure, technology, and regulatory strategy since 2005. The book features entirely new discussions of such topics as the explosive development of the mobile broadband ecosystem; incentive auctions and other recent spectrum policy initiatives; the FCC's net neutrality rules; the National Broadband Plan; the declining relevance of the traditional public switched telephone network; and the policy response to online video services and their potential to transform the way Americans watch television. Like its predecessor, this new edition of Digital Crossroads not only helps nonspecialists climb this field's formidable learning curve, but also makes substantive contributions to ongoing policy debates.

Professors Crew and Kleindorfer have once again assembled a valuable collection of essays that address timely and important issues in postal sectors throughout the world. The essays employ diverse methodologies to provide useful insights about recent and likely future developments in the postal industry. This book will be a valuable resource for researchers, industry practitioners, and policymakers alike.' - David E.M. Sappington, University of Florida, USIn our increasingly technology-focused world, demand for traditional postal services is steadily shrinking. This timely volume examines the many challenges that the worldwide postal sector is facing as a result of growing electronic competition, and offers expert recommendations for reshaping postal structures to strengthen their competitiveness in an electronic age. Drawn from a selection of papers presented at the 20th Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics in Brighton, UK, this book showcases expert contributions on the rapidly changing postal sectors in both the United States and Europe. Topics discussed include the various financial challenges posed by decreasing demand for postal services, recent changes in how postal services are provided, and new structures and modes of operation, such as privatization, that are currently affecting the industry. Contributors offer a thorough breakdown of the issues as well as ideas for keeping the postal sector alive in a world that is growing ever more reliant on purely electronic means of communication. Economists with an interest in regulatory economics, innovation and public sector economics will find this volume useful and informative, as will institutional libraries and industry professionals.

Telecommunications involves the transmission of audio, video, or digital information over significant distances, for a variety of purposes. This book presents and discusses topical programs and issues in telecommunications, including an overview of the FCC; broadband grants and loans; access to broadband networks; internet domain names; the FCC's authority to regulate net neutrality and automated political telephone calls in federal campaigns.

In the seven decades from its establishment in 1775 to the commercialization of the electric telegraph in 1844, the American postal system spurred a communications revolution no less far-reaching than the subsequent revolutions associated with the telegraph, telephone, and computer. This book tells the story of that revolution and the challenge it posed for American business, politics, and cultural life. During the early republic, the postal system was widely hailed as one of the most important institutions of the day. No other institution had the capacity to transmit such a large volume of information on a regular basis over such an enormous geographical expanse. The stagecoaches and postriders who conveyed the mail were virtually synonymous with speed. In the United States, the unimpeded transmission of information has long been hailed as a positive good. In few other countries has informational mobility been such a cherished ideal. Richard John shows how postal policy can help explain this state of affairs. He discusses its influence on the development of such information-intensive institutions as the national market, the voluntary association, and the mass party. He traces its consequences for ordinary Americans, including women, blacks, and the poor. In a broader sense, he shows how the postal system worked to create a national society out of a loose union of confederated states. This exploration of the role of the postal system in American public life provides a fresh perspective not only on an important but neglected chapter in American history, but also on the origins of some of the most distinctive features of American life today.

Telecommunications Industry in India represents the first comprehensive study of a state-run enterprise in the telecommunications industry. The study traces over a period of half a century (1948-2009) the growth and decline of Indian Telephone Industries (ITI). At the heart of the monograph stands one central interrogation: How does the socio-technical system of production in a state-controlled firm shape the relations linking the four main actors: the state, management, union and workers? The original contribution of this book lies in combining business history and labour history within a single conceptual framework. The author evaluates the broader conclusions about the telecommunications industry and public sector through the lens of an individual firm to arrive at a more nuanced understanding of the dynamics of change in the globalizing Indian economy. The work is well in command of the literature on the global business history counterparts of ITI in the telecommunications industry. It is further strengthened by the use of French material on the subject which is now accessible for the first time in English.

Taking the case of Uganda, this book attempts to document the actual state of affairs with regard to ICTs in Africa. Uganda was one of the first African countries to liberalize the communications sector, which led to an explosion in access to mobile phones, the Internet and other advanced technologies. The country further developed a policy on universal access to set up a fund to support initiatives aiming to improve access to ICTs for poor and rural populations.

Learn the core business practices and strategies that can lead service providers to a sustainable business model

POSTMORTEM ON THE PLAGUE YEAR
* How telecom lost $816 billion in 2001—and ways to recognize errors in the making
* Roadmap of the potholes and pratfalls that tripped up Big Business
* Winners and losers compare notes on what they did, what happened, and why
* PLUS reinvention strategies for a shaken industry

WHAT IT TAKES TO WIN

In the midst of the rollout debacle, some companies made money. If you want your rollout to be profitable, you must understand what the winners did right—and what losing carriers and service providers did wrong. That’s exactly what telecom consultant Rajoo Nagar gives you in this power-packed guide, based on her own experiences in the maelstrom, plus in-depth investigations and interviews with industry leaders and analysts.

Look inside—
* Read industry leaders on the basics behind profitable rollouts
* Discover winning go-to-market strategies
* Investigate partnerships—help or hindrance?
* Get capital management strategies for the entire funding cycle
* Put together all vital pieces of a successful plan, from business model to marketing, operations, and support positions
* Apply practical how-to’s on competitive position-strengthening

Is your new service concept bulletproofed? Find out with this field guide to landmine-free launches.

Thanks to inexpensive computers and data communications, the speed and volume of human communication are exponentially greater than they were even a quarter-century ago. Not since the advent of the telephone and telegraph in the nineteenth century has information technology changed daily life so radically. We are in the midst of what Gerald Brock calls a second information revolution.

Brock traces the complex history of this revolution, from its roots in World War II through the bursting bubble of the Internet economy. As he explains, the revolution sprang from an interdependent series of technological advances, entrepreneurial innovations, and changes to public policy. Innovations in radar, computers, and electronic components for defense projects translated into rapid expansion in the private sector, but some opportunities were blocked by regulatory policies. The contentious political effort to accommodate new technology while protecting beneficiaries of the earlier regulated monopoly eventually resulted in a regulatory structure that facilitated the explosive growth in data communications. Brock synthesizes these complex factors into a readable economic history of the wholesale transformation of the way we exchange and process information.

GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) is global mobile data technology. More important it is a step en route to next-generation wireless, or 3G, for many networks in the US and most networks in Europe and Asia. Questions like when can we expect European take-up of GPRS?, what kind of roaming will the standards bodies adopt?, what functionality will first-generation terminals provide?, or how will GPRS change the basic business practices of GSM operators? all need to be answered before implementations proceed. This book helps the wireless industry gets its arms around the issues with contributions from many of the pioneering companies in the mobile data industry. It equips professionals with plain English explanations of technology, markets, billing systems, terminals and management challenges.

Call centers have revolutionized the way business gets done. This book dissects this explosively growing phenomenon, revealing new efficiency-boosting techniques, gainful technologies and applications, and profit-increasing management stratagems. Call Center Operations Profiting from Teleservices Charles E. Day, CMC In this expert guide, one of the leading computer-telecom integration (CTI) consultants in the United States shows you call center deployment and operation from the inside out. Exposing new uses, cost-cutting technologies, efficiency-boosting strategies, and assessment methods with superior accuracy, famed authority Charles E. Day makes it clear why call center operations increased by more than 700% between 1983 and 1997, and continue to grow. The heartbeats of many of today's businesses--serving functions as diverse as telemarketing, customer ordering and service, help desks, inside sales, reservations, and financial services by phone--call centers offer one of the best paradigms for coaxing every bit of efficiency-boosting power from new communications and computing technologies. In these pages, Charles E. Day, an expert who has helped hundreds of well-known businesses deploy and improve call centers, demonstrates how to maximize call center efficiency, yields, and cost savings in your business. Inside, you'll find page after page of ways to: Analyze the gains possible from call centers. Fill a variety of business needs with integrated telephone and computing technologies. Integrate telephone services and computing with efficient, effective technologies. Link databases, call handling, workstations, GUIs, legacy systems, software packages, and networks for a better bottomline. Explore practical, profitable applications of CTI in depth Test-run a call center with out-of-house resources. Get new ideas for call center uses from examples throughout the book. Expand your customer base and improve relationships with existing customers. Boost employee performance. Design a state-of-the-art call center that optimizes use of available resources and potential return. Packed with detailed strategies that translate technology into business solutions, this guide is clear enough for a novice to use. Charles E. Day's Call Center Operations is a resource likely to pay for itself by several orders of magnitude.