Telecommunication Economics

Catalog description

Economic, regulatory/business issues in the design/operation of large-scale telecommunication networks such as telephone, cable, wireless, and computer networks. COMM 479 Telecommunications Economics (3) The objective of the course is to help students understand the economic, regulatory, and business aspects of the physical infrastructures underlying modern telecommunications. We will discuss the large-scale technological systems such as telephone, cable, wireless and computer networks over which media and telecommunications services are delivered today. We will not be discussing the content offered over telecommunications networks as much as the infrastructures themselves: the conduits over which information is delivered to the home and the workplace.With technological convergence and regulatory changes, telephone, cable and wireless networks have acquired the capability to provide services earlier reserved exclusively for one or the other network. For example, we can now access telephone services over wireless networks or over the Internet. Similarly, Web content is available with the traditional telephone modem, as well as over cable, wireless and even satellite networks. In the not too distant future, it may become more meaningful to talk in terms of consumer network to a broadband conduit for all types of content, rather than to particular services such as cable television or long-distance telephony.It thus becomes necessary for those who wish to participate in the telecommunications industry of the future to have a clear understanding of the way large-scale telecommunications infrastructures are put together and operated. Existing courses in the telecommunications curriculum provide instruction in the technology and content aspects of the media and telecommunications industries. The proposed course will complement these existing courses by focusing on the economic, regulatory and business aspects of large-scale networks, in a historical and policy context.What are the mechanisms by which large-scale telecommunications systems such as telephone, cable, wireless and computer networks are deployed over time? What are the costs involved in the initial deployment and expansion, and how do they influence policy? How do planners evaluate and choose between alternative technologies of delivering services? What are the economic justifications for and against government regulation of networked technologies? How do companies charge for services provided over networked systems? What problems do we face as more and more services--such as real-time gaming and interactive television--are added to telecommunications networks, and what are some of the current proposals to solve these problems? These are some of the questions that will be discussed in class.