THE ROAD TO DEREGULATION

The period since the early 1980s has been the most momentous in the history of telecommunications. A series of major technological advances such as optical fibers, Integrated Services, Digital Network, (ISDN), Asynchronous Transfer Mode, (ATM), and Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Loop, (ADSL) has led to spectacular achievements in products and services. In addition, legislation has helped to create an environment of liberalization and deregulation which is shaping the markets of the future. In some respects, regulatory issues have assumed more importance than the purely technological questions in telecommunications. As a senior manager from PTT-Nederland admits:

“When I came here, people were convinced that we sold technology, but to me, that's just nonsense. No-one is interested in opening up a telephone set to look at the circuit boards and admire their quality. What people want is reliable, quick and imaginative service. At the end of the day, it's just like McDonald's. They don't just sell hamburgers, they sell services as well.”

1984 was a pivotal year for world telecommunications. In the USA, AT&T's monopoly was broken up with the creation of the seven Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOC's), while the same year saw the privatization of British Telecom in the UK. Most of Europe's state telecommunications companies are likely to be privatized before the year 2000. This pressure to privatize stems from the fact that many state telecommunication networks are currently under-resourced, that many state budgets are overburdened and that national and international telecommunications markets are being liberalized, thus undermining the position of state monopoly Public Telephone Operators. (PTO's)

The balance of pressure varies between countries but no country is immune, and with the European Union (EU) now resolved to liberalize national markets for voice telecommunications from January 1999, 1999, the pressure can only increase (Spain, Ireland. Greece and Portugal will not "join the voice liberalization club)" until 2003.) Competition is imminent in every European country, but the regulatory structure in each nation wiII influence the speed with which it advances and the strength of rival operators.

Liberalization is shaking up the way that operators conduct their business and is bringing about a "culture change" within companies. The philosophy of "being a civil servant and having a job for life" is rapidly disappearing. Personal performance-related criteria and individualized objectives are influencing the lives, of executives and employees oI' previously state-dominated PTTs, where results often counted for very little.

"Down-sizing," "Right-sizing," "Rationalization" and "Outsourcing" have become the buzz-words associated with liberalization and competition. And in many countries Trade Unions interpret these expressions as the desire of the bosses to get rid of as many employees as possible in the quest to make their businesses more profitable, possibly at the risk of creating the "haves" and the "have-nots."

GLOSSARY

- Momentous : penting

- Shaping : membentuk

- Reliable : dapat dipercaya

- Service : jasa

- overburdened : membebani

- Thus : dengan demikian

- undermining : mencari, menggali

- Immune : kebal

- Civil servant : pegawai negeri

- Down-sizing : perampingan

- Outsourcing : penggunaan sumberdaya dari luar

- Rationalization : penyesuaian

- Buzz-words : kata-kata yang sering didengungkan

READING COMPREHENSION

Identify
1)   Two reasons for the global changes in telecoms since the 80s.
2)   Six concrete results of these changes.
3)    What telecoms have in common with McDonalds?
4)   The two major telecom events of 1994.
5)   What may have happened to most European telecom companies by 2000
6)     The three main sources of the move towards privatization.
7)    What will happen to voice telephony in most EU countries on 1st January 1998?
8)   Three results of the "culture change” within companies.
9)     The interpretation Trade Unions give to terms such as "Downsizing" and "Outsourcing”

THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGWAYS

"We now have at hand the technological breakthroughs find economic means to bring all the communities of the world together. We can create a planetary information network that transmits messages and images with the speed of light from the largest city to the smallest village on every continent. To accomplish this purpose, legislators, regulators and businesspeople must build and operate a Global Information Infrastructure." (GII)

These words, spoken by US Vice-President Al Gore, during his address to the World Telecommunication Development Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 21 March 1994, brought the notion of a Global Information Infrastructure to the attention of a worldwide audience. Public awareness about telecommunications has probably never been higher and buzzwords such as 'multimedia' and 'information superhighway' appear on the front pages of many national newspapers, bought by readers In shops from which they have difficulty in emerging through the roadworks brought about by the installation of cable networks and optical fiber systems under the pavement.

The Multimedia Revolution can be counted in 'Mega-bucks' and has instigated a multitude of mergers, alliances and joint ventures as operators strive to design and install networks from A to Z, from the producer to the consumer/user.

The Information Superhighways arc high-rate, interactive networks capable of transporting any kind of information: computer data, video, voice, movies. In the words of one specialist, they will not just be one network, but many... ‘The network of networks.' They will be based on the optical fiber whose high capacity, small size, lack of sensitivity to electromagnetic interference (EMI) and, low cost will be a considerable rival to the satellite, another key player in the development of the Information Superhighways.

GLOSSARY

- Emerging : menggabungkan

- Awareness : kesadaran

- Pavements : trotoar

- Instigated : menganjurkan

- Strive : berusaha

- Multitude : banyak