The Political Economy of ISDN
Eli M. Noam · 1992
Abstract Debates over narrowband ISDN mirror the key conflicts in the information sector. In the 1960s and early 1970s, the PTTs had failed to appreciate the potential of data communications, and much of equipment, packet switching, and so on, was developed outside the telephone industry and its traditional suppliers. For the PTTs, the threat was that the computer industry would reach standards that would be incompatible with the existing public or specialized networks and would instead accelerate the creation of private networks. Computer standards were the purview of the International Standards Organization, ISO, whereas telecommunications standards were those of the ITU’s CCITT, the Consultative Committee on International Telephony and Telegraphy. Though significant coordination between ISO and CCITT exists through Joint Technical Committee l (JTCl), there is also a built-in rivalry between administrations and private network operators. This is partly due to “forum shopping” by interested parties, with the computer community preferring ISO. Joint development of standards was undertaken through the JTC1.