From: Rafal Smigrodzki (rms2g@virginia.edu)
Date: Fri Aug 02 2002 - 15:47:03 MDT
Giu1i0 Pri5c0
Take for example the European global telecom system (GSM, now GPRS tomorrow
UMTS). It does wonders for the quality of life in Europe: I can travel
everywhere in Europe with a phone (always the same one) and a PDA, and have
wireless internet access everywhere. Gets faster and cheaper all the time.
This has taken massive amounts of bureaucracy and state intervention,
hundreds of person years of committee time, and tons of paperwork, but we
must admit that the end result makes it worth.
### Just out of curiosity - how do you pay for the service? I can get a
calling plan covering most of the continental US for $35, with 5000 minutes
of airtime per month. Is it so much worse than the service in Europe?
I also wonder what kind of bureaucratic intervention do you credit with the
current state of European telecommunication. Is there a mandatory standard
or just a non-binding set of guidelines? Restrictive rules on access to
spectrum? It's hard to tell if the bureaucrats help without more details.
Rafal
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