Investigates organizational mortality in the early American telephone industry, in which thousands of companies proliferated and failed under conditions of technological change. When technologies are systemic, technological change does not necessarily favor advanced organizations. The study used archival data from early Pennsylvania and Iowa…

Discusses Japan's policy structure for its telecommunications sector, claiming that the move toward deregulation is responding less to international example and more to internal pressures from new entrants into the market. (MM)

The cellular radio telephone, which can operate without wires throughout an entire metropolitan area and can make long-distance and international calls through the existing wired telephone network, is revolutionizing the mobile telephone industry. However, it is actually only the first step toward an international person-to-person communications…

Outlines the British teletext information dissemination system and some of its practical uses. Discusses innovations being developed and considers the system's application in the United States. (JMF)

The press of telecommunication technologies and their progeny have undermined the natural monopoly basis for long distance telecommunications and customer premise products, forced open regulatory doors, toppled barriers to market entry, and led to the reshaping of regulatory philosophy as regulators have seen new, wider horizons for the industry.…

A critique is presented of a book which discusses the video telephone. The critique takes issue with the authors' prediction of the technological inexorability of the video telephone. They also disagree with the book's statements about the impact of the video telephone on the communications behavior of individuals and industries throughout the…

Technological change in the communications industry is examined. Focus is on the following jobs: information operator, equipment installer/repairer, line or cable splicer, and central office technician. (CT)

This bulletin outlines the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) responsibilities in regulating the interstate and foreign common carrier communication via electrical means. Also summarized are the history, technological development, and current capabilities and prospects of telegraph, wire telephone, radiotelephone, satellite communications,…

Twelve articles dealing with telecommunications systems are presented. The articles are for the most part considerations of some of the potential uses and of the technical problems of communication networks used for commercial and educational purposes. Among the topics are the application of communication technology to control pollution, the CATV…

Describes the nature and operations of Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDN). Argues that while Western European nations have advanced centralized planning for the introduction of ISDN, the United States is proceeding slowly because of a lack of universal standards and the state of deregulatory policy. (MM)

Three papers consider the effect of divestiture on the research and development capacity of Bell Telephone. The first paper, "Forecasts of the Impact of Divestiture on Bell Telephone Laboratories: An Assessment" (David C. Mowery), discusses the operation of Bell Telephone Laboratories (BTL) prior to divestiture in 1984 and reviews…

This review of the impact of the microelectronic revolution on the Canadian telephone industry focuses on the prospect of dwindling job security for telephone workers. Technical advances that are cited as having reduced the industry's job market include the dial telephone, direct distance dialing, directory assistance computerization, and…

Four papers consider competition, new technology and economics of local telephone companies in a deregulated environment: (1) "An Engineering and Policy Analysis of Fiber Introduction into the Residential Subscriber Loop" (Marvin Sirbu, Frank Ferrante, and David Reed); (2) "Competition in the Local Loop: Pricing Carrier Access"…

As new technologies find new markets, the telecommunications field must deal with definitional problems and with challenges to existing regulation. This paper looks at the fields of cable television and telecomputing, and approaches to their regulation, in order to shed light on the question of telephone companies' (telcos) potential involvement…

The papers from a conference on computer communication networks are divided into five groups--trends, applications, problems and impairments, solutions and tools, impact on society and education. The impact of such developing technologies as cable television, the "wired nation," the telephone industry, and analog data storage is…