Claire Milne and Claudio Feijoo
This paper aims to give conclusions from the papers in the special issue about “Re‐thinking universal service in the digital era”.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to give conclusions from the papers in the special issue about “Re‐thinking universal service in the digital era”.
Design/methodology/approach
A summary of the themes, trends and new concepts about universal service is compiled from the varied viewpoints introduced in the issue. The editors also appraise the mobile and broadband universal service candidates under the different perspectives in the issue, point out a number of questionable assumptions and gaps in the universal service stories, and touch on the international currents of influence in universal service policy. Finally, a succinct vision of a universal service policy for Europe is outlined.
Findings
This special issue aims to provide support to the policy process with regard to universal service in a digital context. The papers in the issue highlight developments that are shaking up the current universal service model. They consider universal service from a set of different dimensions, encompassing both demand and supply side considerations. Also a comparative outlook draws lessons from a representative set of existing regulatory models.
Originality/value
The paper provides a summary of the main avenues for the upcoming universal service policy debate.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the success and continuing relevance of the universal service obligation (USO) in delivering voice telephony, basic digital data…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the success and continuing relevance of the universal service obligation (USO) in delivering voice telephony, basic digital data capability and broadband services to all Australians.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper outlines the background to the National Broadband Plan being implemented by the Labor Government elected in November 2007. The costs of this plan and other funding programs implemented since 1996 are annualized and compared to the cost of the USO.
Findings
The paper reveals that the USO has been eclipsed as a policy tool for making basic telecommunications services universally available in Australia, at least for the time being. It survives as a policy mechanism, but is contained to fixed line telephony, payphones and basic digital data capability. Its declared costs have fallen. The proposed national broadband network continues the trend towards using government funding to achieve telecommunications policy goals. This trend was initiated by the previous government with some of the proceeds from privatizing the former government monopoly, Telstra. The national broadband network also supplements this trend with a reversion to a degree of state participation in a facility (a fibre‐to‐the‐node network serving 98 percent of the population) likely to have strong natural monopoly characteristics.
Originality/value
The paper considers the USO as just one of many tools available to ensure basic telecommunication services are universally available and the debates about it in Australia less as arguments about where an old concept should go in the future, and more about what a very young concept really means.
Details
Keywords
Abstract
Details
Keywords
Claudio Feijoo and Claire Milne
The purpose of this paper is to introduce to the concepts related with universal service and the papers in the special issue about “Re‐thinking universal service in the digital…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce to the concepts related with universal service and the papers in the special issue about “Re‐thinking universal service in the digital era”.
Design/methodology/approach
This special issue aims to provide support to the policy process with regard to universal service in a digital context. The papers in the issue highlight developments that are shaking up the current universal service model. They consider universal service from a set of different dimensions, encompassing both demand and supply side considerations. Also a comparative outlook draws lessons from a representative set of existing regulatory models.
Findings
The paper finds that the foundations and concept of universal service are experiencing a profound transformation as we enter into a new phase of information society development. A new set of policy goals and tools is the main consequence of this change.
Originality/value
The paper presents a timely account of the universal service policy debate.
Details
Keywords
Morten Falch and Anders Henten
This paper seeks to examine the investment dimensions of next generation networks from a universal service perspective in a European context. The question is how new network…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to examine the investment dimensions of next generation networks from a universal service perspective in a European context. The question is how new network infrastructures for providing access for everyone to communication, information and entertainment services in the present and future information society will be funded.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper starts by looking at the range of policy measures available for promoting broadband access. This is followed by an overview of existing and upcoming access network technologies. Before concluding, there is a section on alternative funding mechanisms, including a sub‐section on the potential of private public partnerships (PPP) in providing funding for broadband access infrastructures.
Findings
Although there is nothing in principle hindering the development of universal service policies from those that include a specific service and its underlying network technology towards more general access, other policy measures are likely to become more important in practice for the fulfilment of the universal service goal. Wide diffusion and de facto universal service will, to a higher degree, have to rely on other measures: alternative funding mechanisms and a wider range of policy measures to expand broadband take‐up.
Originality/value
The value of the paper is in its combination of two issues often discussed separately: alternative funding mechanisms and universal access. Furthermore, the implications of NGN are examined.
Details
Keywords
The current approach to universal service involving the provision of specific services (such as fixed voice, public payphones, ability to make emergency calls, etc.) needs…
Abstract
Purpose
The current approach to universal service involving the provision of specific services (such as fixed voice, public payphones, ability to make emergency calls, etc.) needs re‐thinking in a convergent, NGN environment. This paper seeks to be part of that re‐thinking.
Design/methodology/approach
Questions addressed include: Should we move to a focus on universal access to communications infrastructure, allowing consumers to dictate preferred services? Since access to the full range of NGN services, including VoIP, requires broadband connection, should the scope of USOs be “upgraded” to include broadband?
Findings
A shift towards universal network access seems sensible provided that a number of conditions exist. One is that traditional services defined under universal service obligations (USOs), remain available. In particular, a shift to VoIP raises questions about whether present features of universal service (quality, ability to make emergency calls, etc) can be sustained. Another condition is widespread access to broadband. Another condition is that consumers are empowered to exercise the increased choice of services that will be available in an NGN environment. Such consumer empowerment requires that market power, information asymmetry, barriers to “switching”, as well as “systematic bias” in consumer decisions be effectively addressed.
Originality/value
Stimulates the policy reconsideration that is needed in regard to universal service in an NGN environment.
Details
Keywords
At Shepparton in the Murray electorate of Victoria in 2007, the Federal Liberal Member, Sharman Stone, announced that under a returned Coalition Government, Shepparton ‘would get…
Abstract
At Shepparton in the Murray electorate of Victoria in 2007, the Federal Liberal Member, Sharman Stone, announced that under a returned Coalition Government, Shepparton ‘would get a stand‐alone technical college’. One year earlier, the Victorian Minister for Education, Lynn Kosky claimed that ‘We lost something when technical schools [the ‘techs’] were closed previously. Yes, the facilities were not great but we lost something that was important to young people’. This article explores the development and demise of ‘South Tech’, Shepparton South Technical School, 1966‐86 to identify the ‘something’ that Kosky claimed was lost, and to argue that technical education is essential in a reconstituted system.
Details
Keywords
‘'E'S ASLEEP,’ said Jock and nodded towards the enquiry desk. Ciderman looked up from the evening paper, which he now knew by heart, having already that day memorised the Daily…
Abstract
‘'E'S ASLEEP,’ said Jock and nodded towards the enquiry desk. Ciderman looked up from the evening paper, which he now knew by heart, having already that day memorised the Daily mirror, Sun, Daily mail and Daily express. He had some of the Guardian, Times and Daily telegraph off pat too, and even though his politics denied him such intimacy with the Morning star, he was pretty hot on current affairs. His dreams, when he was sleeping the ‘Strongbow’ off in the hostel were as much like Henry Kissinger's as anybody's, though perhaps it was as well for the world that he wasn't in the same position to realise them when he woke up. He looked at the enquiry desk and saw the librarian's grey head cradled on his arms.
School sex education has the potential to evoke a range of personal and political reactions. While it is usually agreed that sexuality should be ‘done’ in school, few agree on the…
Abstract
School sex education has the potential to evoke a range of personal and political reactions. While it is usually agreed that sexuality should be ‘done’ in school, few agree on the best way of ‘doing’ it. This article provides a personal account of the development of sex education at Shepparton South Technical School, Victoria, Australia from 1973‐1985. It is supported by interviews with the people involved in those events and archival materials, including media reports. It also documents the efforts of extreme right activists to discredit and stop programmes, and the State Liberal government’s attempt to formulate a policy on sex education. First I provide a general background to technical schools in Victoria in the 1970s followed by a discussion of Shepparton South Technical School specifically. I then discuss the development of the sex education (social biology) programme, the pivotal role of the Social Biology resource Centre, and the networks involved. I also describe the attacks on the programme in the late 1970s, and their origins and impact. I conclude with a discussion of the outcomes of this intense public scrutiny, and the demise of social biology and the secondary technical schools, the ‘techs’ in the 1980s.
Details
Keywords
On April 4, 2007, Don Imus, one of the company&s most popular talk show personalities made comments on the air regarding the Rutgers women&s basketball team. According to the…
Abstract
On April 4, 2007, Don Imus, one of the company&s most popular talk show personalities made comments on the air regarding the Rutgers women&s basketball team. According to the transcription from Media Matters for America, Imus said, “ That&s some nappy-headed hos there. I&m gonna tell you that now, man, that&s some … woo. And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so, like … kinda like … I don&t know.” At first, the comments did not seem out of the ordinary for one of radio&s “shock jocks.” However, as the public reaction grew, the situation changed considerably. Under pressure from the public, Moonves reluctantly suspended Imus. But it was too little too late. By the end of the day on April 11, analysts estimated that $2.5 million in advertising revenue was lost. On April 12, Moonves terminated Don Imus& contract.
After Moonves fired Imus, there was still a lot to consider. He really wanted a way for the company to meet the demands of the company&s stakeholders. In addition, he wanted to avoid any more distractions from the firm&s normal day-to-day operations.