Broadband Telecommunications Technologies and Management

2Technology, Business and Policy

Preview Questions

• Why do technology, business and policy parameters matter to the telecommunications industry?
• How can broadband telecommunications systems be analysed and compared using a technology–business–policy framework?
• How do infrastructure, retail and service businesses interact in the context of broadband telecommunications?
• What are multi-sided networks?
• What is value and how can it be analysed?

Learning Objectives

• Analysis of broadband telecommunications businesses using the technology–business–policy model
• Analysis of broadband telecommunications businesses' ecosystem, and different layer characteristics
• Value analysis, and value chains and value hierarchy
• Analysis of broadband telecommunications businesses using economic models such as cost–benefit analysis
• Platform mediated networks and broadband telecommunications businesses

Historical Note: Telegraphy

Early telecommunications were made through letters and messages sent by couriers. Very few telecommunications technology advances are recorded until the late 18th century and the development of the visual telegraph by Claude Chappe in 1794 in France. Chappe’s telegraph was a relatively complex system and was based on mechanical and optical technologies, resulting in much faster rates of message transmissions compared with traditional means. Development of telescopes in the 17th century extended human ...