15.020 | Fall 2003 | Graduate

Competition in Telecommunications

Readings

Some of the readings refer to the optional (but recommended) course textbook: Dodd, Annabel, The Essential Guide to Telecommunications, 3rd ed. This text introduces technologies relevant to the telecommunications marketplace, and is strongly recommended for students that are new to the industry.

Other texts will be kept on reserve at the library are:

  • Newton’s Telecom Dictionary by Harry Newton and Ray Horak is an industry classic that helps readers understand many technologies and acronymns.
  • Steve Rosenbush from USA Today published Telecom Business Opportunities which contains many interesting anecdotes about firms in their early years.

Full citations for the papers by Prof. Jerry Hausman are available below the table.

LEC #  TOPICS READINGS
1 Course Introduction and Competitive Structure of Telecoms Industry: The Effect of Convergence

Skim Dodd, Chap. 1, 2, 9

Supplementary readings for those interested in the topic:

Hausman. Competition in U.S. Telecommunications Services Four Years after the 1996 Act.

2 What Caused the Telecom Crash? Is there Light at the End of the Tunnel?  
3 The Economics of Networks and Regulation

Dodd, Chap. 3

Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. Equity Research: Global Communications Primer. March 27, 2001, pp. 3-20 and 45-54.

Supplementary readings for those interested in the topic:

Telephone Technology at ePanorama.net

Hausman. Regulated Costs and Prices in Telecommunications.

Hausman. A Consumer-Welfare Approach to the Mandatory Unbundling of Telecommunications Networks.

4 Regulation, Deregulation and the Telecom Act of 1996

Dodd, Chap. 4

Supplementary readings for those interested in the topic:

Hausman. The Effect of Sunk Costs in Telecommunication Regulation. 
Hausman. Taxation by Telecommunications Regulation. 
Hausman. Regulated Costs and Prices in Telecommunications. 
Hausman. A Consumer-Welfare Approach to the Mandatory Unbundling of Telecommunications Networks.

5

Competition in Local Service

Wireline + Wireless. Will Cellular Replace Residential Wireline Service?

Dodd, Chap. 5

Supplementary readings for those interested in the topic:

Sugrue, Thomas J. Access to Buildings and Facilities by Telecommunications Providers. Federal Communications Commission. 1999. (PDF)

Latour, Almar. Local-Phone Companies Face Siege in an Industry in Turmoil. Wall Street Journal (August 13, 2003).

6 Competition for Residential Local and Long Distance

Dodd, Chap. 6

Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. Equity Research: Global Communications Primer. March 27, 2001, pp. 76 – 83.

Check product offerings at: Verizon, AT&T, MCI

Supplementary readings for those interested in the topic:

Hausman. Valuation and the Effect of Regulation on New Services in Telecommunications. 
Hausman. Does Bell Company Entry into Long-Distance Telecommunications Benefit Consumers?

7

Competition in Mobile & Wireless Communications

Competition for Standards and Coverage

Dodd, Chap. 10

Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. Equity Research: Global Communications Primer. March 27, 2001, pp. 183-203.

Supplementary readings for those interested in the topic:

Hausman. Mobile Telephone.

Hausman. From 2G to 3G: Wireless Competition for Internet-Related Services.

Pringle, David, and Evan Ramstad. European Telecom Firms Face Price War from 3G Cell Phones. Wall Street Journal (August 13, 2003).

Levine, R. C. Cellular & PCS slideshow. 2001. Available at Privateline.com

Farley, Tom. Digital Wireless Basics. Privateline.com

Farley, Tom with Mark van der Hoek. Cellular Telephone Basics: AMPS and Beyond. Privateline.com

8

Future Wireless Technology

Speaker: Dick Lynch, CTO, Verizon Wireless

 
9

The Direction of Future Competition

Full Service Operators (any-distance service, wireline/wireless, voice, Internet access). Integration of Voice, Data, and Wireless Networks.

Hausman. Cellular, 3G, Broadband and WiFi.

Furchgott, Ray. Wi-Fi Moves from Storeroom to Store. New York Times, August 25, 2003.

Is the ‘Wi-Fi’ Wireless Internet Boom about to Turn into a Bust? The Economist, June 26, 2003.

Kahn, Gabriel, Cris Prystay. ‘Charge It,’ Says Your Cellphone. Wall Street Journal (August 13, 2003).

Supplementary readings for those interested in the topic:

Convergence: A Strategic Analysis. A supplement to Network World, May 8, 2000.

Isenberg, David S. Rise of the Stupid Network. Computer Telephony, August 1997, 16-26.

10

Competition in Wireless – Winning Strategies

Speakers: 
Scott Wiener, Nextel VP 
Brian Toll, 15.020 alum and Nextel Manager, Strategic Pricing & Analysis

Infrastructure portion of: Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. Equity Research: Global Communications Primer. March 27, 2001.
11

Internet Commerce in an Wireless World

Speaker: Hoss Mohsenzadeh, Aliaswire Inc.

Aliaswire Inc.
12

Entrepreneurs in Telecommunications

Speaker: Carl Stjernfeldt, Battery Ventures

Review website of Battery Ventures and some of their investments.
13

Competition in an Industry where the Service Look to be Increasingly like a Commodity with Little Differentiation

Speaker: Carlos Lopez-Abadia, Qwest CIO

 
14 Are Spectrum Auctions a Good Idea?

Cramton, Peter. Spectrum Auctions. In Handbook of Telecommunications Economics. Edited by Martin Cave, Sumit Majumdar, and Ingo Vogelsang. 2002, pp. 605-639. Available at the author’s web site.

Werbach, Kevin. Open Spectrum: The New Wireless Paradigm. New America Foundation Spectrum Policy Program, October 2002. Available at the New America Foundation.

Klempere, Paul. The Wrong Culprit For Telecom Trouble. Financial Times, November 26, 2002.

Supplementary readings for those interested in the topic:

Papers on Spectrum Actions by Paul Klempere, Nuffield College. Available at the author’s web page.

Powell, Michael K. Broadband Migration III: New Directions in Wireless Policy. Federal Communications Commission, 2002. (PDF)

FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Actions Section.

Batista, Elisa. Spectrum Auction Faces Delay. Wired News, June 18, 2002.

15 Future Competition in Telecommunications Hausman. Future Competition in Telecommunications.
16

Global Competition: Will Anyone Ever Make Money in China?

Speakers: You! Class members from around the world describe competition in their home markets.

Batson, Andrew. China Considers New Standard for Next Wave of Mobile Phones. Wall Street Journal (August 28, 2003).

Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. Equity Research: Global Communications Primer. March 27, 2001, pp. 24-75 and 213-221.

17 Mobile Handset Market Value Chain  
18 Will Telecom and IT be a Growing Industry or like a “Water Utility?” Carr, Nicholas G. IT Doesn’t Matter. Harvard Business Review (May 2003).
19 Student Presentations  
20 Student Presentations  
21

Student Presentations

Course Evaluations

 
22 Last Day of Class  

References for Papers by Jerry Hausman

Competition in U.S. Telecommunications Services Four Years after the 1996 Act, with R. Crandall. In Deregulation of Network Industries. Edited by S. Peltzman and C. Winston. 2000.

Regulated Costs and Prices in Telecommunications. In International Handbook of Telecommunications. 2003.

A Consumer-Welfare Approach to the Mandatory Unbundling of Telecommunications Networks, with J. Gregory Sidak. Yale Law Journal (1999).

The Effect of Sunk Costs in Telecommunication Regulation. In The New Investment Theory of Real Options and its Implications for Telecommunications Economics. Edited by J. Alleman and E. Noam. 1999.

Taxation by Telecommunications Regulation. Tax Policy and the Economy 12 (1998).

Regulated Costs and Prices in Telecommunications. In International Handbook of Telecommunications. 2003.

Valuation and the Effect of Regulation on New Services in Telecommunications. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity: Microeconomics (1997).

“Does Bell Company Entry into Long-Distance Telecommunications Benefit Consumers?” with G. Leonard and J.G. Sidak. Antitrust Law Journal 70 (2002).

Mobile Telephone. In Handbook of Telecommunications Economics. Edited by M. Cave, et. al. North Holland, 2002.

From 2G to 3G: Wireless Competition for Internet-Related Services. Edited by R. Crandall and J. Alleman. Broadband, Brookings, 2002. Presented at Brookings Conference, October, 2001.

Cellular, 3G, Broadband and WiFi, Shann Memorial Lecture. University of Western Australia, March 2003.

Residential Demand for Broadband Telecommunications and Consumer Access to Unaffiliated Internet Content Providers, with H. Sider and J. G. Sidak. Yale Journal on Regulation 18 (2001).

Cable Modems and DSL: Broadband Internet Access for Residential Customers, with J. Gregory Sidak, and Hal J. Singer. American Economic Review 91 (2001).

Competition and Regulation for Internet-related Services, in Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, Industrial Competitiveness and Competition Policy in the Era of Telecommunication Convergence. 2001. (Also translated into Korean in a book)

Future Competition in Telecommunications. Edited by S. Bradley and J. Hausman. Harvard, 1989.

Course Info

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