Title :
Eliminating barriers to the telecommunications revolution
Author_Institution :
Networking syst., IBM Corp., Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
Abstract :
The author asks the question: why have convergence and telecommunications not "taken off" as some of us had anticipated? The reason is that three inhibitors block the arrival of the age of convergence and one of these is the lingering presence of a web of cross subsidy that fosters economic and emotional barriers to marketplace entrants with new technologies. The author discusses various questions concerning this cross subsidy: what is the approximate size of the residual cross subsidy that still flows from other services to local residential service? How might this cross subsidy affect the dynamics of technological evolution? What, if anything, might stemming the flow of the most egregious elements of the cross subsidy imply?.<>
Keywords :
government policies; telecommunication services; convergence; cross subsidy; economic barriers; local residential service; marketplace entrants; new technologies; technological evolution; telecommunications revolution; Communication industry; Convergence; Economic forecasting; Environmental economics; Inhibitors; Law; Marine technology; Nuclear power generation; Power generation economics; Telecommunication computing;
Journal_Title :
Technology and Society Magazine, IEEE
