Telecommunications Strategy for Economic Development

Strategies linking the dynamic and changing world of telecommunication to local desires for economic growth are at the heart of this important book. In the age of information, grass roots political leaders have discovered telecommunications as they seek to boost local employment and community well-being. Taking the cases of Richardson, Texas, a Dallas suburb that has attracted over 50,000 high-tech jobs, city-state Singapore, which has successfully upgraded its telecommunications infrastructure to lure information-intensive companies, Atlanta, using the 1996 Olympics to advance its information-technology base, and others, the authors critically examine the successes and failures of each. Their conclusions will be invaluable to planners, politicians, and scholars who want to know whether and how advanced telecommunications infrastructure leads to accelerated economic development.

WILLIAM H. READ is Southern Bell Professor of Communications Policy at Georgia Tech and has three decades of experience in the communications field as a scholar, attorney, and public servant./e In addition to his research and writing, he teaches graduate courses at Georgia Tech's School of Public Policy and School of Management, is a research affiliate with the Program on Information Resources Policy at Harvard University, and serves as co-chair of the Atlanta Chapter of the Federal Communication Bar Association.

JAN L. YOUTIE is a Senior Research Associate in the Economic Development Institute at Georgia Tech./e With more than twelve years of experience in both the public and private sector, her particular areas of expertise are economic development research, technology transfer, and policy assessment. Recently she has worked with the Georgia Center for Advanced Telecommunication Technology, the National Institute for Standards and Technology, and the Aspen Institute.