Publication: The Drivers of the Information Revolution : Cost, Computing Power, and Convergence
Date
1997-07
ISSN
Published
1997-07
Author(s)
Bond, James
Abstract
The author explains the drivers of the
information revolution - the decline in the cost of
transmitting information, the increase in the power of
computing, and the shift from analog to digital information
technologies that has joined the telecommunications and
computing industries and merged segments of the information
industry. Over the past twenty years, the cost of voice
transmission circuits and the computing power per dollar
invested have both fallen by a factor of 10,000. Prices have
not fallen nearly as fast - they have been set by a
cartel-like system of international agreements between
incumbent monopolies. But as convergence restructures the
telecommunications industry, new operators are arbitraging
the difference between costs and the old tariff structures,
putting pressure on incumbent telecommunications operators.
Citation
“Bond, James. 1997. The Drivers of the Information Revolution : Cost, Computing Power, and Convergence. Viewpoint. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/be4132af-8cc1-50fb-ae6e-4d021ab6ef75 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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