Monitoring telecommunications deregulation through international benchmarking

Telecommunications Policy

Volumn 20, Issue 8, 1996, Pages 585-606

  Xavier, Patrick ^a  

^a SWINBURNE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARKING; TELECOMMUNICATION DEREGULATIONS;

COMPETITION; ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS; LAWS AND LEGISLATION; TELECOMMUNICATION NETWORKS;

TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES;

EID: 0030262264     PISSN: 03085961     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/0308-5961(96)00044-4     Document Type: Article

References (21)

1. Xavier, P 'Performance indicators for public telecommunications operators: will they improve performance?' Telecommunications Policy 1991 15(2) 137-150.
2. Australian Bureau of Industry Economics Telecommunications 1995-International Performance Indicators Research Report 65, Australian Government, Canberra (1995).
3. Budde, P Telecommunications Strategies Report 1995-96 Paul Budde Consulting, Sydney (1995).
4. Bureau of Transport and Communications Economics Telecommunications in Australia Report 87, Australian Government, Canberra (1995).
5. Budde op cit Ret 3.
6. Bureau of Transport and Communications Economics Evaluation of the Transitional Period in Australian Telecommunications Australian Government, Canberra (1995).
7. Australian Bureau of Industry Economics op cit Ref 2, xv.
8. budde op cit Ref 3.
9. Budde op cit Ref 3.
10. ITU World Telecommunication Development Report 1995 International Telecommunication Union, Geneva (1995).
11. Asian Business Review 1995 (September) 40.
12. OECD Communications Outlook OECD, Paris (1995).
13. The OECD methodology involves pricing a basket of services for each country. The basket represents total expenditure over a year for these services. For example, based on a common call usage profile, the national residential and business baskets charges consist of one-fifth of the relevant installation charge, one year's rental, plus the charge for a particular call usage profile. The difficulty with using a basket approach is that call usage profiles vary between countries. For example, as the distances between the major cities in Australia are relatively large, a significant number of trunk calls are in the two longest-distance bands. In many European countries, calls over these distances would be to another country, meaning that the OECD baskets place less importance on these calls than is appropriate for Australia. This also means that an Australian profile would not be suitable for many other countries. Consequently, while the analysis in this paper uses the OECD basket because it is the best 'international' call profile available, caution needs to be exercised in interpreting the results.
14. OECD Background Document for Telecommunication Performance Indicator Workshop 28-29 September 1995, DSTI/ ICCP/TISP(95)11, OECD Paris (1995).
15. Xavier, P 'Price cap regulation for telecommunication - how has it performed in practice?' Telecommunications Policy 1995 19(8) 599-617.
16. Australian Bureau of Industry Economics op cit Ref 2, 69-73.
17. AUSTEL Competitive Safeguards & Carrier Performance 1993-94 Report to the Minister for Communications and the Arts under Section 399 of The Telecommunications Act 1991, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra (1994).
18. 2 is sometimes said to be a factor that disadvantages Telstra when comparing it to other carriers. However, offsetting this factor is the high (by international standards) urban concentration of the Australian population in relatively few cities. Besides, a large proportion of Australia's land mass is not catered for by the fixed network, with other services such as trunked radio serving large areas. Research on this matter concludes that there appears to be no statistically significant relationship between subscriber density and labour productivity, and that the impact of geography appears to be of less significance than management practices in determining labour requirements. Another reason given is the varying nature of carrier operations. By contrast with Telstra's operations, some carriers, eg the US Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), may not carry long trunk (or international) traffic beyond an allocated region, hence reducing the staff required to manage long-distance trunk routes and international services. However, the size of a carrier's operation does not appear to necessarily have a significant effect on this measure. This is demonstrated by the fact that some smaller carriers, such as Telecom New Zealand, have been able to outperform many of the larger carriers in terms of the lines per employee measure. Carriers are said to have different, or to place varying emphasis on, business activities which are ancillary to or separate from the services provided by the existing fixed access line network. Some of these businesses include wireless services, telephone directories, customer premises equipment sales, international investment and business activities, and cable television services. However, these ancillary and separate businesses, with the exception of Cable TV, are provided by most of the major carriers and are generally not significantly labour intensive. Finally, the varying structure of the companies' group operations. Organizations may structure their operations to reduce employee numbers by contracting out and by deconsolidating previous subsidiaries, which in effect, however, are still controlled by the company.
19. Australian Bureau of Industry Economics op cit Ref 2, 135.
20. Telstra 'Communications - unlocking Australia's future' Address by W Frank Blount, Telstra CEO, to the National Press Club, Canberra, 31 May 1995.
21. AUSTEL Service Provider Industry Study Final Report, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra (1995).