Fast Internet: An analysis about capacities, price structures and government intervention

Telecommunications Policy

Volumn 22, Issue 9, 1998, Pages 745-755

  Pospischil, Rudolf ^a  

^a Business Development Europe at Global One   (Belgium)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

INDUSTRIAL ECONOMICS; LAWS AND LEGISLATION; TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES;

PRICE STRUCTURES;

INTERNET;

EID: 0032180076     PISSN: 03085961     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/S0308-5961(98)00053-6     Document Type: Article

References (35)

1. European Information Technology Observatory/European Economic Interest Grouping, European Information Technology Observatory 1998. Frankfurt/Main, 1998, p. 168.
2. Overview given by Evans, J. V., New Satellites for Personal Communications. Scientific American, April 1998, pp. 70-77.
3. Pelton, J.N., Telecommunications for the 21st century. Scientific American, April 1998, p. 81.
4. For LMDS see FCC, Local Multipoint Distribution Service Auction. Washington, DC, 25 March 1998.
5. With regard to prior spectrum allocations see Wilke, J. W., Teligent and Teledesic deals cause static. Wall Street Journal Europe, 2 December 1997.
6. A description of critical issues is given by the presentation of Nettleton, R. W., LMDS and Point-to-Multipoint Technology, Denver, CO, April 1998.
7. The most aggressive local phone companies to install digital subscriber loops are US West and GTE. For example Sandberg, J., GTE plans to offer high-speed access to Internet using regular phone lines. Wall Street Journal, 13 April 1998.
8. Sprint has announced an initative, called Integrated On-Demand Network, that will use in areas where Sprint has no own local networks unbundled local loops from incumbent local phone companies and equip them with digital systems. Keller, J. J., Sprint offers a plan to reduce overload in old phone system. Wall Street Journal Europe, 3 June 1998, pp. 1 and 5.
9. AT&T/TCI, Investment Community Briefing, 24 June 1998, and Waters, R., AT&T finds Internet at home. Financial Times 26 June 1998, p. 20.
10. US Department of Commerce, The emerging digital economy, Washington, DC, 1998, p. 2.
11. Varian, H. R., Economic issues facing the Internet. Consortium for Research on Telecommunications Policy working paper, Berkeley, CA, 1996, pp. 9 and 14.
12. Level 3 is the only of the four new long distance providers that has no network so far. However, Level 3 recruited top management from MFS and gets an impressive funding of $2.5 up to 3 billions equity and S2 billions debt; Thyfault, M. E., Breaking the mold. Information Week Online, 19 January 1998:
13. Zuckermann, G., Level 3 sells junk bonds of $2 billion. Wall Street Journal, 24 April 1998, pp. C14 and C17.
14. Flannery, S., Telecoms in the Age of the Internet - Capacity Constraint or Bandwidth Glut? J. P. Morgan Securities Inc. Equity Research, New York, 24 April 1998, p. 9.
15. For 1996 see FCC, Fiber Deployment Update Report, Table 1: Route miles interexchange carriers, August 1997, Washington, DC. For 1998 see following footnotes.
16. The Network of ICX shall have a length of 13,000 miles by the end of 1998 and 15,000 miles by the end of 1999. See IXC, 1997 Annual Report on the Internet. (www ixc-comm.com).
17. The network of Qwest should have a length of about 17,500 miles by the end of 1998. At the end of 1997 the length was 9500 miles. The network expansion results from the acquisition of the network from LCI and further network expansion. Compare Qwest, 1997 Form 10-K,
18. Waters, R, Qwest takes over LCI in $4.4bn deal, Financial Times, 10.3.1998.
19. The network of Williams shall have end of 1998 an extension of 18,000 miles and end of 2000 an extension of 25,000 miles. The existing network of 11,000 miles consists of one fiber only. Back in 1995 Williams sold 23 of its 24 fibers and 11,000 miles network to Worldcom for $2.5 billion and kept one fiber. Now, as the non-compete agreement with Worldcom ends, Williams re-enters the market for long distance networks. Williams, 1997 Annual Report, pp. 30-31
20. Worldcom, 1996 Annual Report.
21. Salomon Smith Barney/Credit Suisse First Boston/Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, Verio Prospectus. New York, 27 April 1998, pp. 41-43.
22. At Home, @Home Network - Corporate Background. Redwood City, CA, 1998
23. An overview for an international audience is given by Goldstein, S. N., Recent Internet trends and developments. Internet Technology Research Committee Symposium, Chofu, Japan, 13 February 1998.
24. FCC, Reference Book of Rates, Price Indices and Household Expenditures for Telephony Service. Washington, DC, March 1997, p. 1. The last available average monthly charge was $19.98 as of October 1995. In the meantime the charge should have increased and ranges somewhere between $20 and $25 per month.
25. Four examples for the first half of 1998 may illustrate this number. MCI and Yahoo together entered the market. Their common offer for $14,95 per month gives unlimited access to the Internet. The monthly price for this Yahoo branded offer will increase after three months by $5 in case the customer is not a customer of MCI. AT&T offers its ISP for a monthly charge of $19.95 and limits the usage to 150 hours per month. An additional hour will be charged with $0.99. Only 3% of the more than one million AT&T Internet customers surpass the 150 hours per month. America Online offers its more than 10 million customers the unlimited Internet access for $21.95. Microsoft's WebTV charges for unlimited access a monthly price of $24.95. The two latter providers both increased in the first half of 1998 the price from $19.95 to the current price.
26. As of June 1998.
27. Data from America Online, 1997 Annual Report on the Internet (www.aol.com).
28. Strassel, K. A., AOL France establishes flat fee for unlimited Internet access. Wall Street Journal Europe, 1 July 1998, p. 12.
29. Penetration figures are given by Hayes, E., West Europe: more than 50 million digital cellular subscribers. Financial Times Telecom Markets, 8 April 1998, pp. 8-10, and NN, US leads Europe through the 20-per-cent barrier.
30. Financial Times Mobile Communications, 14 May 1998, p. 11.
31. The principles laid down by Clinton, W. J. and Gore, A., A Framework for Global Electronic Commerce. Washington, DC, 1997, pp. 4-6.
32. FCC, Report to the Congress, Washington, DC, 10 April 1998.
33. The coverage in the press was broad and critical. Simons, J., Internet firms escape full force of government, but may face new fees. Wall Street Journal, 13 April 1998, p. A24.
34. Figures according to Kelley Drye & Warren, Access Charge Reform. A Summary and Analysis. Presentation, Washington, DC, 1997, p. 7. The access charges in 1997 were exactly 5.6 cents and shall reach 3.7 cents in 1998 for both together, originating and terminating access.
35. A comparison of the French and German principles to develop the respective videotex systems gives Pospischil, R., Bildschirmtext in Frankreich und Deutschland - Grundlagen und Konzeptionen. Nuremberg, 1987.