1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910818526203321

Autore

Babe Robert E.

Titolo

Telecommunications in Canada : technology, industry, and government / / Robert E. Babe

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Toronto, [Ontario] ; ; Buffalo, [New York] ; ; London, [England] : , : University of Toronto Press, , 1993

©1990

ISBN

1-282-05627-1

9786612056277

1-4426-8042-3

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (392 p.)

Disciplina

384/.0971

Soggetti

Telecommunication - Canada - History

Telecommunication policy - Canada - History

History

Electronic books.

Kanada

Canada

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

CONTENTS -- PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- PART I. INTRODUCTION -- 1 Mythologies of Canadian Telecommunications -- Pattern Recognition -- The First Myth: Technological Nationalism -- The Second Myth: Technological Dependence -- A Third Myth: Technology and Industrial Structuring -- A Fourth Myth: Efficacy of Regulation -- Yet Another Myth: Gales of Creative Destruction -- Outline -- 2 Telecommunications Today -- Telecommunications Defined -- Supremacy of the Telephone -- Facilities Configuration -- Services Configuration -- Definitional Problems

Telephone Industry StructurePART II. THE TELEGRAPH -- 3 Onset of Electronic Communication -- Inception -- Province of Canada -- New Brunswick -- Nova Scotia -- The Telegraph and Industrialization -- The Press Connection -- The Railway Connection -- The Postal Service -- Economic Growth -- 4 Cartelization -- Central Canada -- Atlantic



Region and American Control -- 5 The Telegraph Coast-to-Coast -- British Columbia -- Prairies -- Canadian Pacific Telegraphs -- Separation of Content from Carriage -- Canadian National Telegraphs

CNCP TelecommunicationsPART III. THE TELEPHONE -- 6 Inception -- Parallels -- Telephone Wars -- The Charter -- A Riddle -- Consolidation -- Segregation -- 7 Independent Telephones -- A Severe Loss -- Tactical Withdrawals -- Quebec -- Ontario -- The West -- Independent Telephones in the United States -- Rural Lines in Quebec in 1905 -- Rural Lines in Ontario in 1905 -- Municipal Telephones -- The Prairies -- Railway Contracts -- Exclusive Franchises -- Conclusions -- 8 The Politics of Government Control -- Petitions -- Commons Uproar

Parliamentary InquiryIn Laurier's Hands -- 9 Western Reaction -- Manitoba -- Saskatchewan -- Alberta -- British Columbia -- 10 Local-Exchange Competition in Ontario and Quebec -- A Note on Exposition -- The New Act -- An Early Boom -- Back in Parliament -- 'Rate Rebalancing' � Phase I -- Locking the Barn-door -- 'Reversed Rate Rebalancing' -- 11 Long-Distance Competition and Reversed Rate Rebalancing -- Northern Telephone -- CNCP Interconnection -- Additional Complexities -- Recapitulation -- 12 Natural Monopoly: Arguments and Evidence

OriginThe First Prop: Economies of Scale -- The Second Prop: Service Universality through Cross-subsidization -- The Third Prop: Systemic Integrity -- Conclusions -- 13 Unnatural Monopoly: Predatory Pricing and the Cost Inquiry -- A Double-Edged Sword -- Inklings of Abuse -- CTC Cost Inquiry -- CRTC Cost Inquiry -- 14 Rate Regulation -- Context -- Legislative Ambiguity -- Regulation of Interprovincial Toll -- Intraterritory Rate Regulation -- 15 Juggling Corporate Forms -- Straining Gnats, Swallowing Camels -- Persona Ficta -- Northern Telecom

Sommario/riassunto

This study provides Canada's first comprehensive, integrated treatment of the emergence and development of key communication sectors: telegraph telephones, cable TV, broadcasting, communication satellites, and electronic publishing. By focusing on real institutions, actual (and frequently predatory) business practices, and law and regulatory policies, in both historical and contemporary perspectives, Babe helps demystify current communication issues.Stressing the flexibility of communication 'technologies' on the one hand, and the element of corporate power on the other, Babe reintroduces the principle of corporate/governmental responsibility for communication outcomes, a principle that has been largely drowned out by the shrill cries of 'Information Revolution.'