The Telecommunication Revolution

So far in this module, we have discussed the issues of the information revolution, the concept of the information society and a brief discussion on the scope of ICTs. Telecommunications infrastructures are the major forces that drive developments in all of these issues. In simple terms, telecommunication can be defined as the process of communicating information via electronic means over a distance. The development in telecommunications is increasing at a spectacular rate. Investments in the telecommunication sector are accelerating, and multinational telecom corporations are expanding their activities globally. Telecommunication has created a new wave of business and economics, with great profit maximisation: For instance in 1994, about a decade ago, when the telecom revolution took an upsurge drive, the ten largest telecom giants made bigger profits than the 25 largest commercial banks (The Economist, Telecommunications Survey 1995: 5). Observers believe that the development in telecommunications impacts on various spheres of human activities: the socio-economic decisions that people make, concepts of national borders, patterns of international trade and so forth. Telecommunications issues have become items in national economic and social development agendas. More and more people are gaining access to telecommunications services: from basic telephony to various value- added telecommunications services.

Developments in telecommunications have seen the gradual transition from analogue to digital systems, for instance, using computers in switches. In the past telecommunications was considered a luxury by many governments and development planners, especially in developing countries. The belief was that extending telecommunication networks to rural and remote areas, where most of the developing countries' population lives, was too expensive. Today, innovations in satellite and wireless telephony, coupled with solid state components for digital switching and end user equipment, have spectacularly lowered the costs of providing telecommunications facilities to any location, from the buzzing city centres to rural villages (Hudson 1997: 11).