industry structure – Page 23

the U.S. telephone industry has developed like agriculture

While everyone appreciates the importance of family farms, few realize that the U.S. has a lot of small local telephone companies. A specific count of companies depends on distinctions among legal entities, operating companies, and holding companies; incumbent local-exchange companies (ILECs) and competitive local-exchange companies (CLECs), both of which can be part of one holding … Continue reading the U.S. telephone industry has developed like agriculture

long-run view of U.S. municipal communications networks

While successful municipal-owned communications networks can scarcely be found in the U.S. today, nearly all sizable U.S. municipalities owned and operated their own communications networks at the beginning of the twentieth century. Municipalities built networks to communicate fire alarms and to communicate with police officers patrolling neighborhood beats. The first such network was a fire-alarm … Continue reading long-run view of U.S. municipal communications networks

service pricing semantics and ontology

Prices for ongoing services often are much less clear than prices for retail-store products that have a price tag affixed to them. Services do not have a natural physical unit, like an item that you pick up from a shelf. Compared to a one-time purchase of physical products, an ongoing service purchase has much lower … Continue reading service pricing semantics and ontology

newspaper advertising revenue estimates

While newspapers clearly are suffering economically, different sources of newspaper advertising statistics show different extents of decline. The Newspaper Association of America (NAA) website reports a 27.94% year-on-year decline in newspaper advertising revenue for the third quarter of 2009 (2009 Q3). Data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Quarterly Services Survey indicate a 14% year-on-year decline … Continue reading newspaper advertising revenue estimates

calls per phone grew across the Great Depression

Despite the Great Depression traumatically beginning in 1929, calls per telephone grew 1% in the U.S. from 1927 to 1932. Across this period, gross domestic product (GDP) fell 39%, and urban prices fell 21%. Since telephone rates are regulated, they tend to be nominally sticky. Hence the real price of telephone service almost surely rose … Continue reading calls per phone grew across the Great Depression