The challenges facing road-side ‘m-Preneurs’ in leap-frogging the constraints of ICTs in DCs: A Nigerian case study

Studies have shown that the number of mobile telecommunications operators in Nigeria has been on the increase since the first Global System of Mobile Telecommunications (GSM) licence was granted to MTN (Mobile Telecommunications Network) in 2001. With the increase in mobile telecommunications operators also has come an unprecedented increase in subscriptions. According to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) data, between 2001 and 2006 for instance, mobile telephone subscribers in Nigeria jumped from 266, 461 to 32.3 million indicating an increase of 12, 030.18 %

Governing information infrastructures and services in telecommunications

Purpose – Telecommunications comprises a vital component of information infrastructures and services, with a historically strong public interest dimension. For the best part of 30 years, the telecommunications sector in Europe has been the subject of a radical reorganisation in structural and operational terms along the lines of neo-liberalism. This paper aims to analyse the significance of the neo-liberal project in telecommunications in respect of the related dimensions of ideology and practice. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a public policy critique of the manifestation of neo-liberalism in the telecommunications sector in the European Union, employing desk-based research on relevant primary and secondary source documentation. Findings – The paper finds that proponents of neo-liberalism have been able to secure the broad acceptance of neo-liberalism as a “view of the world” for telecommunications. It shows that in practice, however, the neo-liberal model in telecommunications provides evidence of a less than efficacious adoption process in three respects: neo-liberalism requires an elaborately managed system the regulatory burden of which has been under-emphasised; the normative success of neo-liberalism has masked how difficult it has actually proven to be to create competition; the preoccupation with markets and competition has resulted in de-emphasis of public interest issues in telecommunications. Originality/value – This paper contributes up-to-date knowledge of the nature and effects of neo-liberalism in the European telecommunication sector. It provides a challenge and counterweight to the “received wisdom” that neo-liberalism has been an overwhelmingly successful approach to the re-ordering of European telecommunications

Deutsche Telekom and Voicestream Merger: Charting a New Regulatory Course

On July 24, 2000, the German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom AG (Deutche Telekom) agreed to purchase the Bellvue, Washington based VoiceStream Wireless Corporation (VoiceStream) for over $50 billion. Although the merger may ultimately fall through, the response generated by the proposed merger indicates the future for deals between US and foreign-owned telecommunications companies. With the increasing globalization of the world\u27s telecommunications markets, the Deutche Telekom deal represents the first time that a company dominated by a foreign government has attempted to purchase an American corporation. The signatories of the Basic Telecommunications Agreement, an agreement among World Trade Organization (WTO) members to open their telecom markets to foreign competition, are closely watching the US response. The stance that the US government takes in reviewing this merger can be seen as a sign of things to come as the world\u27s single largest telecommunications market opens up to the world

FCC Regulation of the Telecommunications Press

The author thinks we would not tolerate this sort of regulation in any context other than telecommunications; the First Amendment would forbid it. But somehow telecommunications speech is different and permits, many think, a different First Amendment regime. The author seeks here to raise questions about this assumption through an exploration of the justifications generally offered to support this different First Amendment regime for telecommunications speech. After exploring those justifications, the author will offer some alternative strategies for reforming telecommunications regulation in a manner which both eliminates present intrusion into protected speech and forwards the First Amendment interest of diversity of ideas

Privacy in (mobile) telecommunications services

Telecommunications services are for long subject to privacy regulations. At stake are traditionally: privacy of the communication and the protection of traffic data. Privacy of the communication is legally founded. Traffic data subsume under the notion of data protection and are central in the discussion. The telecommunications environment is profoundly changing. The traditionally closed markets with closed networks change into an open market with open networks. Within these open networks more privacy sensitive data are generated and have to be exchanged between growing numbers of parties. Also telecommunications and computer networks are rapidly being integrated and thus the distinction between telephony and computing disappears. Traditional telecommunications privacy regulations are revised to cover internet applications. In this paper telecommunications issues are recalled to aid the on-going debate. Cellular mobile phones have recently be introduced. Cellular networks process a particular category of traffic data namely location data, thereby introducing the issue of territorial privacy into the telecommunications domain. Location data are bound to be used for pervasive future services. Designs for future services are discussed and evaluated for their impact on privacy protection.</p

Stochastic user behaviour modelling and network simulation for resource management in cooperation with mobile telecommunications and broadcast networks

The latest generations of telecommunications networks have been designed to deliver higher data rates than widely used second generation telecommunications networks, providing flexible communication capabilities that can deliver high quality video images. However, these new generations of telecommunications networks are interference limited, impairing their performance in cases of heavy traffic and high usage. This limits the services offered by a telecommunications network operator to those that the operator is confident their network can meet the demand for. One way to lift this constraint would be for the mobile telecommunications network operator to obtain the cooperation of a broadcast network operator so that during periods when the demand for the service is too high for the telecommunications network to meet, the service can be transferred to the broadcast network. In the United Kingdom the most recent telecommunications networks on the market are third generation UMTS networks while the terrestrial digital broadcast networks are DVB-T networks. This paper proposes a way for UMTS network operators to forecast the traffic associated with high demand services intended to be deployed on the UMTS network and when demand requires to transfer it to a cooperating DVB-T network. The paper aims to justify to UMTS network operators the use of a DVB-T network as a support for a UMTS network by clearly showing how using a DVB-T network to support it can increase the revenue generated by their network

The Economic Impact of Telecommunications Diffusion on UK Productivity Growth

This paper investigates the relationship between telecommunications infrastructure competition, investment and productivity. Using econometric modelling and input-output economics, the analysis examines and measures the extent to which telecommunications has contributed to national and sectoral productivity performance. The main findings from this paper suggests that most industries have benefited from the incorporation of advances of telecommunications technology, which might have, amongst other things, emanated from encouraging infrastructure investment, in their production processes. Thus the analysis demonstrates that U.K. government policies on telecommunications and its investment incentives may have wide-reaching consequences for not only the telecommunications industry but also the economy as a whole.Productivity, Input-output analysis, Technical change, Telecommunications

"The global telecommunications infrastructure: European Community (Union) telecommunications developments"

[From the Introduction]. Information, electronics, and telecommunication technologies promise to create communications networks of greatly expanded capacity capable of moving messages across interconnected wired and wireless systems almost anywhere in the world. Such global systems will profoundly affect the economic and social life of all countries. For those countries and economic sectors with a history of significant involvement in electronics, computers, multimedia, and telecommunications, early and timely deployment of state-of-the-art infrastructure may be a matter of prime importance. Many individual countries have made or are making changes intended to accelerate movement toward an information society, in large part because they recognize that a strategic competitive edge in the world economy will likely depend increasingly upon the availability, use, and exploitation of information. A major participant in the information race is the European Union (EU), formerly the European Community. The Commission of the European Union (Commission) has launched a strong push to adopt a common strategy for the creation of a European information society driven by a European information infrastructure. This strategy is aimed at bridging individual initiatives being pursued by EU Member States. [1. Member States now in the Union include the following: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom, Austria, Finland and Sweden joined the Union on January 1, 1995.1

The telecommunications sector in the Pacific: a regulatory policy survey

The paper makes three main contributions to the study of telecommunications policy in small island states. First, it provides a much-needed update of regulation of the telecommunications sector in the Pacific. Second, it explores a wide range of regulatory policy variables with potentially significant impacts on the performance of the telecommunications sector. Finally, the survey outlines the early expansion of the Irish-owned mobile operator Digicel Pacific Limited, which has been largely responsible for recent investment