Explore the vast range of titles available.

This book is a compilation of two recently completed works on the convergence of information and communication technology (ICT) (Singh and Raja 2008, 2009). Since then, convergence, the eroding of boundaries among previously separate ICT services, networks, and business practices, has accelerated and deepened. At the time these reports were written, convergence was already a reality and was picking up pace in low-income countries, as in the rest of the world. Now, as this introduction summarizes, broadband networks are reaching deeper into previously unserved areas. The growing number of people connected to broadband networks are consuming, sharing, and creating new multimedia content and applications. And they are doing this on handheld and portable devices that are less costly and do more than before. All sorts of users, governments, businesses, individuals, and ICT firms, are looking to cut costs while capturing greater value. Taken together, these trends indicate that convergence is set to accelerate even through the ongoing global economic downturn. Countries that enable convergence through appropriate policy and regulatory responses will realize significant benefits in terms of expanded access, lower prices, and greater competition. Chapter two of this book focuses on the strategic implications of convergence and possible policy responses. Chapter three focuses on emerging regulatory practices facilitating multiple plays, or the provision of multiple services, such as voice telephony, broadcasting, and Internet access, by one operator over a single communications network, typically telephone or cable television but increasingly mobile and fixed wireless networks. The book concludes by presenting several best-practice principles for regulatory responses to multiple plays and, to some extent, to convergence more generally. Indeed, the main task for regulators is to remove artificial barriers and restrictions that are remnants of legacy regulation, thus clearing the way for market forces to play out, promoting the public interest, and leading to the realization of a range of benefits for users.

Service quality acts as an antecedent to customer satisfaction (CS). Evaluation of service quality in an enterprise is vital to improve productivity and increase CS. Usually, it is difficult to rate service quality due to the presence of vagueness in the available information as well as impreciseness in the physical nature of the problem. The comprehensive intention of this paper is to present a robust modified SERVQUAL based multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) method to evaluate the quality of service and its interaction with the dynamics of CS. The proposed evaluation model is a hybrid model, which integrates three popular tools of decision making at the different stage. At first stage, service quality assessment SERVQUAL with the statistical tool has employed to identify appropriate factors affecting the service quality of the telecommunication network. In the next stage, to find the appropriate weight of the different factors in the evaluation process, fuzzy Rasch method is utilized. The final stage involves the selection of the service provider with the most contented customer based on fuzzy MCDM method. Moreover, a new risk minimizing evaluative model is proposed for the study. The strength of the proposed approach is its practical applicability and ability to provide solution under partial or lack of quantitative information. The proposed model is applied for evaluating the service quality of the telecommunication industry of Jorhat, Assam with respect to 256 participants on 15 criteria. Finally, sensitivity analysis is conducted to evaluate the robustness of the proposed approach.

In the framework of this study, a technical solution was developed that makes it possible to detect network security incidents with a high probability using data arrays about device statuses, network events, and information stored in system logs. A model for identifying attacks on a network has been developed, using behavioral analysis and allowing the identification of suspicious network activity An algorithmic solution has also been built that allows aggregating data in a single store based on Cassandra and correlating events from specified sources using gradient boosting of decision trees in the CatBoost implementation. During the computational experiment, the study of the proposed hybrid solution for the accuracy of identification of individual types of attacks was conducted. It is proved that the proposed approach can effectively detect and repel attacks by reducing the response time to security incidents.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to identify the structure of strategic investments and the effect of each investment category on business performance in two leading information and communication technology (ICT) countries, the USA and South Korea. Design/methodology/approach - This is a longitudinal comparative study of the relationship between strategic investments and organizational performance of major telecommunication service providers (TSPs) in the two leading ICT countries, the USA and South Korea. Findings - The study found that a sufficient amount of strategic investments in technological innovations is the driving force for TSPs' business performance. However, strategic investment structures differ among TSPs, depending on their market position, whether the first mover in the market or a follower, and on their country's market characteristics. Moreover, even though both countries' TSP markets are oligopolistic in nature, the market is more saturated in Korea and thus competition appears to be fiercer there than in the USA. The stronger oligopolistic market in Korea has lead TSPs to compete primarily on their marketing strategies, while TSPs in the USA do so based on technological innovation. Originality/value - The findings of the study shed new insights that can help both TSPs in developing their competitive strategies and government policy makers in assuring healthy competitive telecommunication markets in their countries.

The modern business environment is characterized by intense competition, which has led telecommunication companies to a continuous race towards gaining and maintaining a competitive advantage. In order to succeed, telecommunication companies “cultivate” market orientation and market oriented cultures as non-imitable characteristics, capable to ensure long–term corporate viability and growth. This paper provides an insight into the Greek telecommunication industry by: a) revealing the coordination between market orientation strategies with corresponding culture, b) the relationship between extrovert-type cultures with performance and c) how special traits of telecommunication providers (size and age) influence the degree of market orientation and the dominant culture type (introvert or extrovert). The paper contributes: a) to the creation of national cultural profile in the telecommunication industry, which can become a starting point in a wider trial to create a European industry profile, b) to the empirical testing of the correlation between culture and market orientation and c) to the examination of the extent to which background factors (such as firms’ age and size) should be taken into account during the implementation of a business strategy.

This report is part of a broader effort by the World Bank Group to understand the motives and challenges of small entrepreneurs in fragile and conflict-affected situations (FCS). The report's key finding is that, compared to entrepreneurs elsewhere, entrepreneurs in FCS have different characteristics, face significantly different challenges, and thus may be subject to different incentives and have different motives. Therefore, it is recommended that both the current analytical approach and the operational strategy of the World Bank be informed by the findings that follow. The report summarizes findings of recent World Bank Enterprise Surveys (ES) conducted across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), Asia, and the Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Region as well as Doing Business indicators and additional World Bank Group studies and field observations. The report finds that the majority of entrepreneurs in FCS countries are small, informal, and concentrated in the trade/services sectors. According to the ES, and after controlling for the level of development (that is, GDP per capita): 1) the average FCS firm in SSA and the ECA Region produces less output than non-FCS firms; 2) the average FCS firm in ECA is by 20 percent less likely to innovate (that is, to introduce/upgrade new products and services) than its non-FCS counterpart; and 3) FCS firms start smaller and grow significantly more slowly, or even shrink (in the number of employees) over time, compared to non-FCS firms in the Regions analyzed. The report also highlights the differences in sector and business environment characteristics between FCS and non-FCS business environments.

Mobile telecommunications service providers are facing greater pressure to increase continuance intention among their customers. At the same time, the number of foreign students studying Mandarin in Taiwan is increasing. However, there is no research on and discussion of factors affecting these students' continuance intention in Taiwan's mobile telecommunications industry. This study therefore uses the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the expectancy disconfirmation model (EDM) to explain the factors affecting foreign students' intention to continue using mobile telecommunications services. A web-based questionnaire survey is used to collect the primary data, and structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to test the proposed research model. The empirical results find that the three constructs of TPB (i.e. attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control) and the satisfaction construct of EDM have a significant and positive impact on foreign students' continuance intention toward mobile telecommunications services. This study will enable Taiwan's mobile telecommunications companies to adjust their marketing strategies to increase foreign students' continuance intention.

Napadi DDoS (napadi za porazdeljeno zavmitev storitev) sodijo med najbolj razširjene kibemetske grožnje, ki pomenijo visoko tveganje za neprekinjeno delovanje informacijskih sistemov. Pomembno vlogo v sistemu odzivanja imajo upravljavci internetne infrastrukture, ki nadzirajo internetni promet. Pregled literature nakazuje na pomanjkanje znanstvenih raziskav o aktualnih izzivih in učinkovitih pristopih k soočanju z napadi DDoS, še zlasti skozi prizmo ponudnikov telekomunikacijskih storitev. Namen prispevka je proučiti trende na področju napadov DDoS in vlogo ponudnikov telekomunikacijskih storitev pri soočanju s tovrstno grožnjo. Skladno s tem smo izvedli raziskavo v obliki strukturiranih intervjujev s strokovnjaki, zaposlenimi pri največjih ponudnikih telekomunikacijskih storitev v Sloveniji. Rezultati kažejo, da se v Sloveniji ponudniki telekomunikacijskih storitev najpogosteje soočajo z volumetričnimi napadi DDoS manjšega obsega, med pogosto izpostavljene pa sodijo protokoli na transportnem sloju. Ponudniki telekomunikacijskih storitev ustrezno skrbijo za nadzor in omejevanje internetnega prometa, prav tako ponujajo dodatne storitve anti-DDoS, medtem ko naprednejših varnostnih mehanizmov še ne uporabljajo.

China's recent economic growth has expanded industrialization and urbanization, upgraded consumption, increased social mobility, and initiated a shift from an agricultural-based economy to one based on services and industry. However, more than half of China's population still lives in rural areas, where the average per capital income is less than a third of the urban average. The government of China has increased its commitment to rural development and poverty-reduction programs, with attention to narrowing the rural-urban divide. Informatization—defined as the transformation of an economy and society driven by information and communications technology (ICT)—is increasingly being explored as a way of helping poor people. Rural Informatization in China presents an overview and in-depth analysis of rural ICT initiatives in China. This study reviews the present-day status of China's rural informatization infrastructure, examines and summarizes by organizational model the key initiatives in the past decade, and provides policy recommendations to address current challenges. Case studies of different financing models of rural ICT initiatives from China and other countries are included.