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VALUE ADDED SERVICES: APPLICATIONS, ACCEPTABILITY AND POLICIES — THE CASE OF TELECONFERENCING
Abstract
Recent technological developments have fused computer and telecommunications technologies together creating the scope for a wider and more diversified array of communication services. The new services rising out of this integration are called value-added services (VAS) and are offered on value-added networks (VAN). One such new offering is teleconferencing which involves multipoint simultaneous or store and forward connect facilities using audio, video, computer or graphic support systems. This paper reports on some results collected from a recent study on the applications and acceptability of teleconferencing as a new value-added service. It compares views recently collected from the United States and explores the actors that will determine acceptability and take-up of the new service offering. Some attention is also paid to new regulator provisions and pricing practices for the VAS and contends that teleconferencing may well be a test case to determine the boundary between old and new technologies.
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NOTES AND REFERENCES
Australian telecommunications services: a new framework, Canberra, Australian Government Publishing Service 1988.
ibid., p. 198.
Lundin argues that teleconferencing is now considered as a value-added service VAS, particularly in education and training applications. See R. Lundin, ‘The domain of teleconferencing and applications in education’, in R. Lundin, (ed.), Australian Teleconferencing Directory, Brisbane, Brisbane College of Advanced Education, 1989, p. 11.
op. cit., p. 74.
Ergas describes a value-added network as ‘…. involving largely a telecommunications type of service such as messaging, or one which combines the provision of information with facilities for its transmission …’. See H. Ergas, Telecommunications and the Australian Economy, Report to the Department of Communications, Canberra, Australian Government Publishing Service, 1986, p. 80.
See P. Portway, ‘Teleconferencing — its time has come’ in R. Lundin, op. cit., 1988.
L. Parker, ‘Marketing the teleconferencing technology’, in R. Lundin, op.cit., 1988.
M. Quayle, Teleconferencing: A Market Evaluation Study in Australia, A Report to Telecom Australia, December 1989.
Notwithstanding the Parker study being a longitudinal analysis and the present paper being cross sectional, some interesting comparisons of the two samples are evident. While the sample sizes are relative to the respective size economies (1200 in the USA, 887 in Australia) structure and composition of the two studies do vary. The Parker study showed a more even distribution in the representation mix of the various organisation classifications than did the Australian study. For consistency reasons, Parker maintained the same compositional mix through time from 1980 to 1989, whereas the Australian study had a stronger focus on business applications as the author believed that developments in technology in the past few years made teleconferencing more attractive to the business community.
The two sample groups (user and non-user) were tested for similarity in their proportions of their response rates to the survey and it was verified that at the 95 per cent confidence level there was no statistical difference in the response rates between the two groups.
Parker, op. cit., p. 59.
See E. Mansfield, ‘Technical change and the rate of imitation’, Econometrica, 29, October 1961, pp. 741–66; S. Davies, The Diffusion of Process Innovations, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1979; P. A. David, Technical Choice, Innovation and Economic Growth, Cambridge Press, Cambridge, 1975; P. Stoneman, Technological Diffusion and the Computer Revolution: the U.K. Experience, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1976.
See E. M. Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations, The Free Press, New York, 1967, pp. 82–3.
Davies, op. cit., p. 61.
ibid., p. 45.
Alemson M. A.. 1987. . Teleconferencing. . Prometheus . , Vol. 5((2)) December;: 386––94. .
Arnold L. M.P.. “Government strategy for industry development: the South Australian viewpoint. ”. In Technological Change: Impact of Information Technologies . , Edited by: Goldsworthy A. W.. p. 46 Canberra : : National Information Technology Council. .
op. cit., p. 200.
ibid.