Videotex development strategies

analysis

Book reviews

of

I2 countries’

experiences

that was not already well known from particular

countries’

Perhaps

there

experiences.

was nothing

to be re-

vealed, but the lack of a clear conceptual framework

Vive la difference7.

tell.

(An

dustry

linkages’,

cept of NEW

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

be learned from a comparative

SERVICES

sis across several An excellent

Videotex

Development

carry

Strategies

it

althoqh

Information, Computers and Communications Policy Division, OECD, Paris, France, 1988, 55pp. FF75

of these countries.

idea, and who better

out

than

OECD?

its conclusions report.

page booklet,

to

did not come up to my

A little

PATHWAYS

under half the document

given over to summaries

Videotex, Bases

Teletext

and On-line

Data

experience tries,

in eight

Australia.

the USA.

section. howcvcr,

Sage Publications, Inc. Newbury Park, London and New Delhi, 1987, 158pp, r 17.95K8.95

more

has been roughly and

in

billion

the

provided

for

within

has

hccn

others

not. And so on.

a

fhc money govcrnnrcnt

has become a the money

by a miscellany organizations,

videotcx has been a distinct

of and

failure.

Is

thcrc a moral here’!

Isvant

arc

too

countries. away

many

diffcrcnccs more

is simplistic:

potentially

hslwoen

One might

with

Presumably. strain4

by

whatcvsr

the

usefully

specific

rctwo

nibble

questions.

(on avcragc.

per terminal

viable

USA’?

Bcttcr.

OECD

sot out to do.

they

industry

though,

to

do

per

There

were

a few

pcculiaritics

connection with Prcstcl in fhc UK. rcmarkcd

appronchcs.

took a study to dctcrminc

it

dcscribss

undcr-

what could

it is

by advances

in cable

Maybe this is so

see how),

a sciitcncc

but

it

or two of

community

of information admired.

of

the

business.

merits

costs.

rcvcnucs

direct cost savings,

over

tions)

half

the

document

the ways that govcrnmcnts adniinistra-

can and have bccomc involved scrviccs and

to draw conclusions

payand

and making cxpliunderlying

of thcsc figures.

formation

would

French

bc dccidcdly

the

the

for pub-

of

19X0,

the Direction

bc

the

ths

Ttiltimatiquc and soft-

network

directory.

00%

Lhwi

hardware

for the Ttiletcl

dcs had in-

of which mors

electronic

report


(DCiT)

$500111 in

and for

‘The

total

cost of vidcotcx seems high. especially considering rcquirc

that

twccn $300 Minitcl

the programmc

an annual illld

invcstmcnt

$JM)

[carnsl

m

the

each

atcd

at

$20

anticipates

assistance

will

of bc-

year

.. .

an

avcr-

DGT

age $72 per year per unit.

Allowing

SilVillgS

cstim-

per year per unit. the DGT that

its initial

of $318 per subscriber

invcstmcnt

pays for

itself

in four years, which is the same timcscale ilS il tclcphonc lint.’ That is all the information

about

for

the conclusions

is

seems

conimcnting

to have been rcvcalcd by ;I systcmiltic

might

which v;~lucd

diffcrcntly.

end

is most striking nothing

in-

useful

as to whcthcr

in a country

the cxtcrnalitics

the

Such

approach

appropriate

lic policy. Wht

lhill

ilftcr

tit the key assumptions

wart

as a costs.

providers.

derivation

By

asscss-

of Tt33el

to information

is

has been

based on invcstmcnt

operating

the

of

providers

What

long awaited is an independent

for directory

cxpl;lniltiOll.

what

of diffcrcnt

in

(hat the ‘scrvicc could soon

bc challcngcd

penetration

and in developing a vigorous

deservedly

to

For cxamplc. in

in the start-up of vitlsotcx

176

chose

undcrfundcd

attempts

with a variety

terminals

scene, and its success

a high

was for terminals.

this part of the report.

Rather,

IllilrkCt

achieving

l~rograninic.

been

(and tclccomniunic;ltioiis

diffcrcnt

in

vcstcd

have

into

govcrmncntal

which

important

even to casual observers

public domain. which suggests that the may

The

well known,

study

in the

that vidcotcx has hcen Iaun-

system’.

‘I’~l~colii~iltl~iiC;Ltio~is

chcd by many of its mcmbcr counlrics. conditions.

con-

the gaps was in the

merits

of

was

is what

of the French strategy are

ncccssary to fill

certainly

tion achicvcd in France about three minutes

French

indicates,

I cannot

utiliza-

disappointment

supply it. But much of the information

(though

a variety

in

chose to supply,

and satcllitc systems’.

Noting

is

sonic

and seems to

in reaching a conclusion

format

For cxamplc. at what Icvel of pcnctra-

il

In

information

Con. if any. would the vidcotrx

day) sustain

not.

study

mcmbcr govcrnmcnts in

sonic,

arc indicatcil;

the the

For

it

it is

components

mcnts

given its objectives.

As posed, the question thcrc

others lcvcls

con-

information

that but

is described as ‘a detailed case study of

mcnt

This

govcrnmcnt

ilpprl~Ximatcly

In the USA.

private-sector

by

price

by the

spent

play4

casts.

and vidcotcx

mass medium.

of

country.

CilCh

for

to notice the

had bscn

type

the same in France

the context of a clear national

strategy

the

included;

In France,

has been spent

role

and

could have been far

if thcrc

in

coun-

Japan

approaches.

to date in vidco(cx

USA:

dollars.

useful

sistency the

invcstmcnt

Totill

European

Canada.

in their

is

of videotex

It is interesting

diffcrencc

by Jerome Aumente

explained structure.)

little

of the videotex

expectations.

NEW ELECTRONIC

inadequately

‘In-

the con-

the analysis.

provide

the

as a 55

subtitled

introduced

‘filit+e’ and implied inform

A particular

restrained,

published

would

But.

are generally

sensible and appropriately the final

analv-

means that one cannot

early chapter,

the

cludcs.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

commercial on

it.

‘Altlwugh

provided

asscssmcnt.

the report

In con-

thcsc calculations

POLICY

June

1989