The telecommunications industry has evolved into a very competitive industry since 1980. Aggressive competition is the norm in the long distance, equipment, operator services and many other segments of the industry. The remaining segment of the market without widespread meaningful competition is the “last-mile” wireline service to the customer premise. Incumbent local exchange carriers enjoy a monopoly to serve nearly all residences and most business customers, collecting over 99% of all local exchange service revenues. Using their monopoly status, incumbents have developed a cross-subsidy system which uses the rates paid by some customers to lower the rates paid by others to support a policy known as “universal service.” This policy has resulted in telephone service reaching ...

The aim of this project is to start creating awareness and to convey the idea that optical sensor technologies are now technically and economically mature enough to provide safety enhancement features in the residential environment and market. A first application of these technologies can be that of real time building structural health diagnosis: a utility company or telecommunications operator is in a position to provide it as a service by means of its urban optical fiber infrastructure and service management expertise. There are several advantages accruing from continuously monitoring the structural health of buildings. However, among them there is one that stands up as the overriding driver for the long term measurement of mechanical strain in key points of building structures: the p...

The thesis aims to examine and explore NPD activities within China and establish whether a Western interpretation of NPD is appropriate to indigenous Chinese companies, engaged in an economy which is entering an era of globalisation. The research is based on ten case studies undertaken within five industrial sectors: lighting (light fabrication), watches (personal consumer products), white goods, automotive and telecommunications. Cases are representative of the differing types of Chinese organisations, and include examples of privately, collectively and state owned enterprises (POEs, COEs and SOEs), together with international joint ventures (IJVs). Conceptual approaches are developed to examine organisational background, NPD culture, technology transfer, NPD coordination, entrepreneuria...