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.

This is a research and reference guide to the telecommunications industry in the United States, providing an account of legislative and policy changes up until the publication of the work. Contributions by scholars in telecommunications law and policy survey the post-1996 legislative field, giving overviews of the 1996 Act itself, the impact of the legislation on national and international competition, regulation of the industry and the MCI/FCC cases in California, mergers and acquisitions, taxation and FCC reform.

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.

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.

Garrard provides an expert account of the growth and development of markets in the rapidly growing and profitable cellular communications industry. The author brings his invaluable insights to this authoritative analysis of business and regulatory issues, drawing lessons for current business practice. The treatment is global. Market development is described, analyzed and evaluated, bringing the reader up-to-date with current market characteristics and future trends. 514 p.

This book introduces the concepts, applications and development of data science in the telecommunications industry by focusing on advanced machine learning and data mining methodologies in the wireless networks domain. Mining Over Air describes the problems and their solutions for wireless network performance and quality, device quality readiness and returns analytics, wireless resource usage profiling, network traffic anomaly detection, intelligence-based self-organizing networks, telecom marketing, social influence, and other important applications in the telecom industry. Written by authors who study big data analytics in wireless networks and telecommunication markets from both industrial and academic perspectives, the book targets the pain points in telecommunication networks and markets through big data. Designed for both practitioners and researchers, the book explores the intersection between the development of new engineering technology and uses data from the industry to understand consumer behavior. It combines engineering savvy with insights about human behavior. Engineers will understand how the data generated from the technology can be used to understand the consumer behavior and social scientists will get a better understanding of the data generation process.

As more people choose to work from home, the challenges for both the home worker and traditional management increase. Many questions arise regarding how to appraise the remote worker, the logistics of home working, and productivity. The authors focus on developing the right skills to cope with this new environment and stress the importance of knowing what the homeworker needs.Other issues addressed are finding the right balance between the office, home and client sites, dealing with the creation of workable home office environment, and technological and legal issues.

Most telecom books focus on either traditional telecom billing audits or pure technology, with the cost saving ideas buried deep in the text. Busy decision-makers need the specifics quickly, without having to plow through details that do not affect the economics of a project. Telecommunications Cost Management takes cost saving techniques and brings them to the forefront where managers and decision makers can quickly use them for real world cost reductions or efficiency gains.

Traditional bill auditing texts provide recommendations but only within the context of the existing architecture - for example, they might highlight techniques for reducing circuit switched leased lines but omit the pros and cons of leased lines versus alternatives. Telecommunications Cost Management provides a blueprint for cost reduction across all major technologies - from frame relay to IP telephony to contract recommendations. The text presents the key facts up front, with sample calculations for broadband, local access, equipment, and service alternatives. It provides scenarios showing the effects of different architectural strategies for both voice and data communications. Intended for the busy decision-maker, this reference eliminates the need to wade through unnecessary details and guides the reader directly to the cost saving techniques.

The convergence of telecommunications and broadcasting raises many questions. What form will convergence take in the future? When convergence produces new opportunities in the information, education and entertainment markets, what sort of rules of the game will be required? How will the players behave in these new markets? What policies might be needed?

A study of the changing character of state-society relations in contemporary Thailand, using the telecommunications industry as a case study. It examines the privatization and gradual reforms of the 1980s and 1990s and the political dynamics behind these policies, as well as conflicts and co-operation among the various players and their interests. The book also covers bureaucratic and political corruption and their implications for Thailand's political democratization and economic liberalization. It argues not only that the bureaucracy is no longer the dominant power in Thai politics, but also that the country has moved towards a more pluralistic socio-political system in which a broadly-based liberalization coalition has emerged.

This volume takes a critical look at the specific forecasts and broader perspecives that shape popular understanding of a communications revolution. The book concentrates on the area of videotex, an outgrowth of cable television that makes use of computers, television, and telephone technology to produce a powerful information/communication system. Videotex draws on the major developments in microelectronics for information processing and communication used by many businesses and governments throughout the world. The potential of videotext for mass market penetration makes it an excellent means to explore the social relations of communication and information.

From the people who work exclusively from home to the 'portable' manager with no fixed site, the need to communicate is paramount. Mike Johnson's candid appraisal of teleworking, or telecommuting as it is also known, looks at the key benefits: for the individual it provides the opportunity to work from home; for the company it provides major savings on costs. The down side is the lack of human contact and the anxiety of employees who work away from the centre of things. The ...in brief books provide a critical 'snapshot' of the major management fashions and fads influencing business strategy. They cut through the consultants' jargon and steer a practical, common sense course through the theory and hype. They provide managers with a balanced view based on evidence rather than missionary zeal, so that they can be better informed.

This book provides a detailed insight into China's endeavours to acquire the advanced technical competencies which lie at the heart of modern telecommunications. Distinctively detailed first hand material is presented in two contrasting case studies in the field of public digital switching systems. The book explores the deep problems that beset the former socialist system, how these are changing in the face of China's economic transition and its distinctive technological policy of 'walking on two legs'. An invaluable guide to China, The Chinese Road to High Technology also offers important insights into the issues facing other developing countries.

Providing an authoritative perspective on the best current research regarding telecommunication policy, this book is based on the 22nd Annual Telecommunications Policy Research Conference. The papers focus on the critical policy issues created by increasing competition in the industry. The book contains a careful analysis of local competition and interconnection, international competition, universal service issues, the Internet and emerging new methods of communication, and the first amendment problems created by changing telecommunication technology.
It brings together -- in a convenient form -- a wide range of important scholarship on telecommunication policy that otherwise would require extensive research into a variety of journals, government filings, and unpublished papers.

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.

The book addresses the most recent challenges faced by the postal and delivery sector. This book includes original essays by prominent researchers and practitioners in the field of postal and delivery economics, originally presented at the 28th Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics held online, December 1-5, 2020. Chapters discuss topics such as the sustainability of the universal service obligations (USO) quality of service, last mile solutions, competition in liberalized markets, data protection, environmental sustainability, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This book will be a useful tool not only for graduate students and professors interested in postal and regulatory economics, but also for postal administrations, consulting firms, and federal government departments.

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.

Before the 1990s, China's telecommunications sector was a lacklustre monopoly featured by poor-quality service and inadequate capacity. Today the country boasts a dynamic telecommunications industry with the world's largest communications network and user-base with over 460 million telephone subscribers. China's accession to the WTO in 2001 has opened this huge developing telecommunications market to foreign participation and investment. The authors examine the singularity of the Chinese experience in building up its extensive telecommunications network in merely a decade, by reviewing China's national industrial policies and institutional reforms within the industry. The reader will find in this volume a unique and in-depth analysis of the interplay between political and economic forces amidst the industry's structural overhaul and regulatory reforms. The accounts of industrial features and market conditions are enriched with up-to-date data, which are extremely useful for appreciating the development and prospects for this fast-growing market, set against the backdrop of China's accession to the WTO. Scholars of China or Asian studies and researchers of information-communications industry and Asian/China studies will find this work of great interest, as will governmental policymakers, both in China and beyond. For foreign business practitioners eyeing this market, this volume provides a helpful guide to understand China's various interests and public welfare considerations that motivate changes in policies towards foreign investment and participation.

Hardbound. Global changes in policy and technology in the telecommunications industry in the 1990s are described and analysed in this volume, showing how this industry creates a bridge for society's transition to the next century. Dynamic innovations in technology are encouraging a relatively free world market and a Global Information Infrastructure for use by developed and developing economies. The volume discusses the challenges posed by these innovations for closing the gap between the information-rich and information-poor. Lessons are included for corporate and individual users as they prepare for the Global Information Infrastructure. Societal impacts of new networks, multimedia, cellular communications, equipment standards, telemedia, digital cash, the Internet, and innovative satellite systems are explored in detail with a view to future developments.

In this history of US-based direct broadcast satellite developments, the United States and other nation-states are shown to be the ultimate arbiters of their ongoing histories. In making this now unfashionable argument, Edward A. Comor directly challenges recent academic work that tends to privilege global processes over national, and argues that the contemporary world order is being shaped primarily by transnational rather than nation-state-based forces. In testing this orientation with empirical research on US foreign communication policy since 1960, Communication, Commerce and Power compels academics and policy makers to rethink commonplace assumptions about the characteristics and potentials of the contemporary and future international political economy.

Strategies linking the dynamic and changing world of telecommunication to local desires for economic growth are at the heart of this important book. In the age of information, grass roots political leaders have discovered telecommunications as they seek to boost local employment and community well-being. Taking the cases of Richardson, Texas, a Dallas suburb that has attracted over 50,000 high-tech jobs, city-state Singapore, which has successfully upgraded its telecommunications infrastructure to lure information-intensive companies, Atlanta, using the 1996 Olympics to advance its information-technology base, and others, the authors critically examine the successes and failures of each. Their conclusions will be invaluable to planners, politicians, and scholars who want to know whether and how advanced telecommunications infrastructure leads to accelerated economic development.