Telecommunications: Challenges and Opportunities
Today
PPT Slide
There’s lots going on ...
Convergence
Moore’s law drives progress in the digital world
Transistors per die / linear scale
Transistors per die / log scale
MIPS / linear scale
Internet hosts / linear scale
Microsoft stock / linear scale
Moore’s law => Exponential progress
(Aside: Incumbent carriers have been overtaken by technology before!)
On top of technological upheaval came regulatory upheaval
Computer Industry 1982
Computer Industry 1996
Telecom Industry 1996
Telecom Industry Future?
Governor’s Telecommunications Policy Taskforce (April 1996)
A regional imperative
The challenge
Les Vadasz, Intel Corporation San Jose Mercury News, March 20 1997
Charles Ferguson, MIT & Berkeley “The Internet, Economic Growth, and Telecommunications Policy,” April 1997
Reed Hundt, FCC IEEE HotChips Conference, August 26, 1997
Why?
Clearly, we must move rapidly towards a truly competitive marketplace for the local loop
But it’s not simple!
Some principles
Recap of principles
Some tests of any proposed action
Suggested actions (and inactions!)
The Digital State -- August 1997 Progress & Freedom Foundation, with IBM’s Institute for Electronic Government
“A Digital Report Card”
Summary
The Technology Alliance
Complaints per 100 lines, 1996
Days to close a complaint, 1997
LEC capital investment (per Charles Ferguson)
Email: lazowska@cs.washington.edu
Home Page: http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/lazowska/lazowska.html
Other information: Telecomm presentation Technology Alliance legislative retreat September 1997