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    infrastructure

This page deals with national and global network infrastructures - the 'pipes' and switches that make the net possible.

It covers -

• development
• industry
• competition and access
• network architecture
• transmission media and technologies
• switching and routing
• peripherals
• the PSTN
• backbones
• customer access networks
• speed

There supplementary profile on the shape and history of Australian telecommunications features a page on Australian and New Zealand network infrastructure, with a complementary page on the internet in Australia.

     development

Studies of the development of the global information infrastructure are noted in the Communications Revolutions profile on this site.

Highlights are

Peter Hughill's Global Communications Since 1844: Geopolitics & Technology (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Uni Press 1999) and The Invisible Weapon: Telecommunications & International Politics 1851-1945 (Oxford: Oxford Uni Press 1991) by Daniel Headrick

Brian Winston's Media Technology & Society: A History from the Telegraph to the Internet (London: Routledge 1999) and The Struggle for Control of Global Communication: The Formative Century (Urbana: Uni of Illinois Press 2002) by Jill Hills

Scott Wallsten's 2001 Ringing in the 20th Century: The Effects of State Monopolies, Private Ownership, and Operating Licenses on Telecommunications in Europe, 1892-1914 (PDF).

Eric Arnum & Sergio Conti's 1998 paper Internet Deployment Worldwide: The New Superhighway Follows the Old Wires, Rails and Roads

Kevin Livingstone's The Wired Nation Continent: The Communication Revolution & Federating Australia (Melbourne:, Oxford Uni Press 1996) and Alex Wilson's Wire & Wireless: A History of Telecommunications in New Zealand 1860-1987 (Palmerston: Dunmore Press 1994)

     the industry

At the national and international level the connectivity industry continues to be unstable. Globally the infrastructure has more kept pace with demand on most routes and in particular regions 'over-building' of capacity (or merely poor planning) has resulted in some operators significantly scaling back plans to provide national/local fast access. 

At the international level consolidation of major internet service providers and telecommunications operators continues. Locally the picture is more varied: the drastic consolidation forecast by some pundits in Australia, the US and EU has yet to occur. World internet traffic is dominated by around 280 international ISPs, with the ten largest owning or leasing 70% of global internet bandwidth (ie the transborder telecommunications links and routers). These include AT&T, WorldCom, PSINet, Sprint and Cable & Wireless; they're predominantly from the US, with a few from the UK, France and Germany.

Regional transborder operators such as Pacific Century CyberWorks and Telstra are increasingly competing with the global giants and with ISPs that have a national or local focus. Australia has around 800 ISPs: the three largest account for around 60% of traffic but as is often noted, don't necessarily provide the best service or best pricing to business and domestic consumers. As we note later in this guide, given relatively low entry costs small ISPs continue to appear. Most disappear as a result of revenue/service problems and acquisition by competitors.

Academic research networks such as Australia's AARNet and GÉANT often act as national/international connectivity providers alongside commercial ISPs. While there have been some loosening of regulatory restraints (eg removal at the end of 2000 of restrictions on AARNet under Australian telecommunications legislation) most specialise in research traffic, particular as part of Internet2 development.

     Competition and access

Eli Noam's Interconnecting the Network of Networks (Cambridge: MIT Press 2001) offers an overview. Competition In Telecommunications (Cambridge: MIT Press 2000) by Jean-Jacques Laffont & Jean Tirole and Universal Service: Interconnection, Competition & Monopoly in the Making of the American Telephone System (Cambridge: MIT Press 1996) by Milton Mueller examine universal service regimes.

There are more varied perspectives in Opening Networks to Competition: The Regulation & Pricing of Access (London: Kluwer 1996) edited by David Gabel & David Weiman, in Networks, Infrastructure & the New Task for Regulation (Ann Arbor: Uni of Michigan 1996) edited by Werner Sichel and Deregulatory Takings & the Regulatory Contract: The Competitive Transformation of Network Industries in the US (Cambridge: Cambridge Uni Press 98) by Gregory Sidak & Daniel Spulber.
 
The incisive paper The End of End-to-End: Preserving the Architecture of the Internet in the Broadband Era by Mark Lemley & Hal Varian explores concerns with 'bundling' and other restrictions by major carriers.

Technical and economic issues are explored in The Internet Upheaval: Raising Questions, Seeking Answers in Communications Policy (Cambridge: MIT Press 2001) edited by Ingo Vogelsang & Benjamin Compaine. The 'digital divide' page in our metrics guide (and more detailed profile of individual divides) considers other studies.

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