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ТHE WAYS OF DEVELOPING OF RURAL TELECOMMUNICATION SECTOR
O.S.Radjabov (TUIT, head of depertment)
J.N.Sayfiyev (TUIT, student)
In all countries around the world, the telecommunication industry is undergoing
restructuring, usually with a visible sense of urgency. Why is this occurring?
First, it is increasingly evident that telecommunications and economic development are very
closely linked. Intuitively, this seems logical. Scientific investigation and analysis has confirmed
that the correlation between telecommunications and economic development is very high.
Second, the telecommunication industry in many countries is undergoing restructuring
because it is now widely realized that the old, rigid «government telecom monopoly model» meets
neither the communicating needs of public nor the national policy objectives of country. Under
this model, telecommunication services are delivered by a government
department run on civil
service lines, with political masters and at tariffed rates which are arbitrarily set based on policy
and political judgment, without reference to cost structures and commercial reality.
The greatest challenge for developing countries is to ensure that telecommunication services,
and the resulting benefits of economic, social and cultural development which these services
promote, are extended effectively and efficiently throughout the rural and remote areas - those
areas which in the past have often been disadvantaged, with few or no telecommunication services.
These rural and remote areas will in fact benefit most from the advent of
telecommunications, because alternative methods of passing information are more costly and
difficult than in densely populated areas. As a result, without telecommunications the information
is either not put forward and
the value of it is lost, or it is put forward in some other way,
Now, it is well recognized that the telecommunication industry is inherently commercial in
nature. The provision of good telecommunication services is an enterprise which can and should
be profitable in its own right. Especially in the rural and remote areas, it provides a valuable and
vital stimulus for economic growth, and also for social and cultural development.
To release this inherently commercial vigor, some structural adjustment is often necessary.
It is important to separate responsibility for: i) establishing national telecommunications policy;
ii) for regulation of the industry; and iii) for the actual provision of telecommunication services to
customers. Responsibility for national telecommunications policy and regulation of the
telecommunications industry continues to be a government responsibility.
Experience has shown that the provision of telecommunication services is carried out most
effectively on a commercial basis. The actual ownership of the service providing organization may
be the private or public sector, or ownership may be joint. The important thing is that the
organization operates,
and is judged, as a commercial enterprise.
Experience in many developing countries has shown that the actual operational provision of
telecommunication services can often be made substantially more effective and valuable by
selective liberalization. The objective of liberalization is to enable and encourage organizations
which provide telecommunication services to think and act as business ventures, seeking always
to minimize cost and maхimize revenue, to respond quickly and economically to customers’ needs,
both expressed and anticipated, and to promote the use of the services that are offered, especially
those that are the most valuable to the users and profitable to the service providers.
To seize and take advantage of the economic opportunity that telecommunications brings to
developing countries, the essential requirement is that the service providers should think and
behave with an entrepreneur’s mindset, not that of a civil servant.
These days, appropriately, the emphasis in considering rural telecommunications is very
much on «applications» - how the telecommunication services will be used, and how, in turn, this
usage will benefit the citizens of the region served. Experience indicates that the introduction of
sufficient quantities of modern telecommunication services in previously unserved or underserved
rural and remote areas stimulates
economic development, social development, and cultural
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development. Telecommunications enables a whole range of commercial functions to be carried
out quickly and easily, functions which previously were at best slow and costly, and at worst could
not be carried out at all. Functions now made easier including finding markets for farm produce,
fisheries catches and handicraft products, negotiating prices and quantities, arranging for pick up
and delivery, and so on. On the input side of commercial enterprises, telecommunications
facilitates such functions as arranging for the required factors of production (e.g., obtaining
supplies of all sorts, including both raw materials and production tools) and
making arrangements
with and for workers. On both the input and the output side of commerce, telecommunications
makes it much easier to follow up on contracts, and explore potential business development
opportunities.
Telecommunications makes it possible to obtain and to distribute information of all sorts.
Databases and other information sources can be accessed, providing information, amongst many
other things, on distant markets, market and consumption trends, and future markets.
Detailed information regarding «best practices» methods and techniques can be made
available, to the great advantage of agriculture, fisheries, and cottage handicraft industries. The
widespread distribution of detailed, well-substantiated «best practice»
methods and market
information has proven to be very valuable over many years in the steady and continuing
improvement of agricultural productivity in North America.
Telecommunications brings the ability to carry out all sorts of transactions electronically.
This includes financial transactions (e.g., making bank deposits, paying bills, and obtaining cash)
and also information-type transactions (e.g., arranging to obtain licenses of all sorts). The flow of
information in the reverse direction also brings value. The government and other appropriate
organizations can now obtain census-type and other statistical information electronically, and, as
a result, can improve the quality and timeliness of decision-making and delivery of services.
Tourism is a commercial area which is just not feasible without adequate
telecommunications, which are essential in developing the business, in promoting it, and in making
the reservations and detailed arrangements that this industry requires. Experience indicates that
potential tourism customers refuse to go to areas where «reasonable» telecommunications are not
available. Tourism is a rapidly expanding industry worldwide, and offers a significant commercial
opportunity for many developing countries.
Educational opportunities can be greatly expanded by tele education, or «distance learning»,
techniques. There are examples of educational programs available through telecommunications,
that embrace the whole range of education from primary school to university. For many of the
residents of the rural and remote areas of developing countries, this capability has
the potential to
open a broad spectrum of new educational possibilities. In educational applications, a variety of
technologies can play a role. Often, the transmission arrangement is asymmetric, the transmission
medium providing both images and voice from the teacher to the students, with only voice
response from student to teacher. Pedagogically, this arrangement has been found to work well.
Telemedicine is an active and expanding field. Good quality data service capability is
necessary so that medical readings and records and files can be transmitted reliably. Now, instead
of having to move either the patient to the doctor or vice versa, it becomes possible to move only
the relevant medical information. As well as direct patient care, experience has
demonstrated that
valuable telemedicine applications include in-service coaching and training of remote-located
health care staff.
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