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

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Babe, Robert E., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Telecommunication--Canada--History.

Telecommunication.

Telecommunication policy--Canada--History.

Telecommunication policy.

Canada.

Genre:

History.

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (392 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

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

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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.'

Contents:

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

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

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

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-282-05627-1

9786612056277

1-4426-8042-3

OCLC:

244767061