An Overview of the Telecoms Industry:
CHALLENGES FOR ALL Mr Yoshio Utsumi Secretary-General, International Telecommunications Union 1
Over the last decade, a combination of technological advances and policy changes has ignited a boom in telecoms infrastructure investment unprecedented in the history of telecommunications. The results were extraordinary. The telecom business is being transformed from one dominated by monopolies and owned by governments, to one marked by robust competition among private companies. If anything, we are now seeing some of the harsher effects of capitalism and competition, as the laws of supply and demand buffet the industry. While these are difficult times for suppliers, especially equipment manufacturers and operators, customers have never had it so good. Prices are falling, new services are becoming available, and more and more customers now enjoy a choice of supplier. The peaks and valleys on this rollercoaster ride have been felt so sharply and quickly that a longer-term policy perspective is clearly required. Between 1995 and 2000, the volume of Internet traffic grew by four times, but available capacity grew by more than 200 times. The “dark fibre” available on the most popular routes, such as across the Atlantic, grew by several thousand times. Haphazard, overzealous planning has led to overcapacity, which in turn has led to falling prices and falling profits for telecom operators and manufacturers.