Managing ubiquitous eco cities: the role of urban telecommunication infrastructure networks and convergence technologies

A successful urban management system for a Ubiquitous Eco City requires an integrated approach. This integration includes bringing together economic, socio-cultural and urban development with a well orchestrated, transparent and open decision making mechanism and necessary infrastructure and technologies. Rapidly developing information and telecommunication technologies and their platforms in the late 20th Century improves urban management and enhances the quality of life and place. Telecommunication technologies provide an important base for monitoring and managing activities over wired, wireless or fibre-optic networks. Particularly technology convergence creates new ways in which the information and telecommunication technologies are used. The 21st Century is an era where information has converged, in which people are able to access a variety of services, including internet and location based services, through multi-functional devices such as mobile phones and provides opportunities in the management of Ubiquitous Eco Cities. This paper discusses the recent developments in telecommunication networks and trends in convergence technologies and their implications on the management of Ubiquitous Eco Cities and how this technological shift is likely to be beneficial in improving the quality of life and place. The paper also introduces recent approaches on urban management systems, such as intelligent urban management systems, that are suitable for Ubiquitous Eco Cities

Business model requirements and challenges in the mobile telecommunication sector

The telecommunications business is undergoing a critical revolution, driven by innovative technologies, globalization, and deregulation. Cellular networks and telecommunications bring radical changes to the way telecom businesses are conducted. Globalization, on the other hand, is tearing down legacy barriers and forcing monopolistic national carriers to compete internationally. Moreover, the noticeable progress of many countries towards deregulation coupled with liberalization is significantly increasing telecom market power and allowing severe competition. The implications of this transition have changed the business rules of the telecom industry. In addition, entrants into the cellular industry have had severe difficulties due to inexistent or weak Business Models (BMs). Designing a BM for a mobile network operator is complex and requires multiple actors to balance different and often conflicting design requirements. Hence, there is a need to enhance operators’ ability in determining what constitutes the most viable business model to meet their strategic objectives within this turbulent environment. In this paper, the authors identify the main mobile BM dimensions along with their interdependencies and further analysis provides mobile network operators with insights to improve their business models in this new ‘boundary-less’ landscape

Social and Cultural Diversity in Distance Education

With the expansion of global telecommunication networks and the worldwide demand for higher education, distance education has the potential to reach out internationally to enhance learning for diverse learners and increase intercultural awareness and communication. By definition, distance education is borderless (Latchem, 2005), although differences in sociocultural contexts, values and expectations of diverse educational systems and learners may prove to be its greatest challenge (Hanna, 2000). While distance education programs proclaim an international focus with international content and learners, instructional design and methods frequently carry Eurocentric Western bias. Distance educators need to be sensitive to social, cultural and educational differences, cultural assumptions embedded in courses, and “the imposition of cultural values and practices” (Latchem, 2005, p. 189)

Deregulation and Enterprization in Central and Eastern Telecommunication - a Benchmark for the West?

The restructuring of telecommunication in Central and Eastern Europe occurs at a time when the classical structures of telecommunication are falling apart worldwide. Coming from the socialist system in which telecommunication did not exist as an independent economic activity, the Eastern European countries have created specific "post-socialist" modes of reform, often outdoing Western countries in terms of speed and radicality. Deregulation and enterprization have dominated the process in all countries, leading to advanced technical standards and a wide segmentation of telecommunication markets. The role of foreign direct investment and technology transfer was particularly important. But the reforms also lead to an increasing social gap between the prosperous users of advanced telecommunication services, and the average citizen for which even telephony has become a luxury good. Our thesis is that CEE telecommunication reform, rather than copying Western models, may become a benchmark for the West, in particular for Western Europe. Technically, the advanced reform countries in Central Europe are about to succeed the leapfrogging process, i.e. the jump from post-war socialist technologies to world-leading edge-of-technology standards. With regard to industry structures, Central and Eastern European countries show that the age of "classical" integrated telecommunication activities is definitely over. Instead, most diversified telecommunication services are integrated in the emerging information sector. Finally, the very notion of telecommunication as an "infrastructure" is put in question for the first time in Eastern Europe. We start to address the two relevant policy issues: modes of regulation, and science and technology policies to accompany the restructuring process.

A Brief History of Mobile Telecommunication in Europe

Since the introduction of mobile telephony in the early fifties in Europe, US and Japan the demand for this service exploded. It seems that the latent demand for mobile telecommunication services for decade's continued to be very strong. Since the introduction of cellular technology the capacity of the services increasingly became able to meet the massive demand. Next and future generations of mobile telecommunication technologies bring increased transmission speed and more versatile services. This forces network operators to organise multi- sourced information flows supplied by service providers to increase the network effect of the system instead of providing the network infrastructure and leave the content to the users as in pure voice telephony. The drivers and inhibitors behind the emergence and recent developments of mobile telecommunications systems in Europe are highlighted in this paper. Liberalisation of the telecom markets in Europe drove new entrants to the market and curbed excessive pricing. However, in recent years the lack of challenging service is the main cause for the wavering development of newer generations of mobile telecommunication services.Telecommunications, Market Structure, Production, Pricing, Technological Change, Economic History, Europe

Convergence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sectors in the East African Community (EAC): Challenges for the current legislative and regulatory frameworks and lessons from the European Union experience

The East African Community (EAC)'s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector has been confronted with the convergence phenomenon. This is a concept that describes the trend of blurring boundaries between the traditionally distinct ICT sectors, namely: Information Technology (IT), broadcasting and telecommunications. This is significant for the EAC since the driving force behind this convergence phenomenon is that of efficiency. It necessitates the need to rethink the current legislative and regulatory frameworks in the ICT sector in order to cope with this phenomenon. The need to address this is pertinent since adapting to legislative and regulatory frameworks that are fully converged will expand access to ICT, stimulate economic growth, technological advancement, and also faster integration process of the EAC. Therefore this paper aims to demonstrate the following: Implications and challenges of this trend for the EAC legislative and regulatory frameworks; the need for a common legislative and regulatory framework that is fully converged. It therefore focuses on the inadequacies of the existing legislative and regulatory frameworks and reveals the lacunae in the present frameworks and how they fail to adequately address convergence phenomenon. The paper recommends effective, workable and consistent proposals on how to address the inadequacies. This brings awareness and deepens the understanding of the regulatory convergence issues to the ICT stakeholders in the region and the challenges of convergence on the existing frameworks. This will contribute to better legislative and regulatory frameworks in the EAC ICT market. It will therefore enable the region to enjoy the benefits of convergence and minimise instances of inefficiency in regulation of these converged ICT markets. --East African Community (EAC),Legislative and Regulatory Harmonization,Convergence,Information and Communication Technology (ICT),Regulation

The End of Net Neutrality

In 2005, the FCC changed the competitive landscape of the high-speed Internet access industry by classifying both DSL and cable modem service as information services. While many hail this move as a victory for competition and free markets, others fear the ruling could jeopardize the future of the Internet. This iBrief examines the potential end of net neutrality and concludes that new federal regulations are unnecessary because antitrust laws and a competitive marketplace will provide consumers with sufficient protection

International Production Networks And Changing Trade Patterns In East Asia The Case Of The Electronics Industry

The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the spread of different international production networks in East Asia has affected the trade links of the region with the U.S. and Japan. We concentrate on one particular aspect, i.e. changes in the product composition of U.S. and Japanese electronics exports and imports to and from the East Asia region. We find that compared to the U.S. , Japan’s trade links with East Asia display a far greater diversity of the product groups involved. Of equal importance is a second finding: the trade balances of both countries with the region are radically different. A consistently high and growing trade deficit characterizes U.S. trade links with East Asia in the electronic industry. This is true even for computers and components, the two sectors where the U.S. has re-established itself during the last few years as an uncontested leader. This is in stark contrast to the situation in Japan, where a large and rapidly growing surplus characterizes its trade links with East Asia. Although this is now slowly changing as East Asia has become the most important source of Japanese electronics imports, there is reason to doubt whether this positive development is strong enough to reduce any time soon the asymmetric nature of Japan’s trade links with East Asia. These differences can only be partially attributed to traditional macroeconomic factors that are the focus of standard trade theory. In the paper, we show how the observed differences can be better explained by some peculiar features of the international production networks that American and Japanese firms have established in East Asia. The chain of causation appears to work both ways. Changes in the organization of international production have led to changes in the composition of bilateral trade flows. Such changes in international trade patterns, in turn, lead to further changes in the organization of international production.international trade; international investment; economic development; business strategies; networks; Japan; USA; Asia; electronics industry

Evolution of the EU broadband policy: Towards an integrated framework?

Since more than two decades, broadband has been recognized in the EU as having great benefits to economic and social development.This recognition is evident in the first EU policy document on the telecommunications market - the 1987 Green Paper - which assumed that harmonization and liberalization through competition mechanism could be used as the tools to bring all those benefits to the European citizens. Although the policy in the following years emphasized the competition mechanism, many additional instruments were developed and implemented in order to make broadband available to all European citizen. Some instruments can be seen in the form of Directives, and some instruments are shown in many policy strategies. All of them have a considerable contribution to the growth of broadband deployment in the EU. However, with globalization, the policy impetus for broadband has shifted toward a means to increase competitiveness of a nation or region.This changing emphasis due to globalization and competitiveness impacts the design of policy instruments. A question can be raised which instruments can serve a new concept of future broadband policy. Against this background, the paper will present an evolutionary concept of broadband policy in the EU by providing a model to integrate the related broadband policy instruments. A timeline of all instruments and initiatives being implemented will be explored. This evolution will be analyzed in order to see what kind of future model is applicable when broadband policy is based on a perspective of globalization and regional competitiveness. The analysis will address how well the existing instruments can serve a new concept of broadband policy and what the needs are for new policy instruments and working structures. --network society,post-industrial society,broadband policy,the EU,sector,agenda,strategic agenda