Telecommunications/Background Research and Resources

Overview of the Field

See summary report.

Case Studies

Possible Ways to Organize Case Studies

Network Components

• Fiber
• Legacy Last Mile/Last 100 Feet (DOCSIS/DSL/MoCa?)
• Wireless Last Mile/Last 100 Feet (3G/4G/802.11)
• Services (Operator Provided Content & Managed Services / Internet "Over-the-Top" Services)

Layers

• Physical Layer
• Network Logical Layer
  • Data Link Layers
  • IP Layer
• Service/Application/Content Layer

Candidates for Case Studies

2G CDMA/Qualcomm (Wireless Last Mile ; Logical Layer)

The most oft-told story of aggressive patent use. Lots of supporting material should make this one easy to write, and recent developments make it timely and fresh if combined with 3G story

• David Mock, The Qualcomm Equation: How a Fledgling Telecom Company Forged a New Path to Big Profits and Market, 2005.
• http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2009/tc20090427_373993.htm?chan=technology_technology+index+page_top+stories

GSM (Wireless Last Mile ; Logical Layer)

• Rudi Bekkers Bart Verspagen, Jan Smits, Intellectual Property Rights and Standardization: The Case of GSM, 26 Telecom. Pol. 171 (2002).
• Rudi Bekkers et al., Intellectual Property Rights, Strategic Technology Agreements and Market Structure: The Case of GSM (Sept. 2000), at http://www-edocs.unimaas.nl/files/mer00030.pdf
• Rudi Bekkers & Isabelle Liotard, European Standards for Mobile Communications: The Tense Relationship Between Standards and Intellectual Property Rights, 21 Eur. Intell. Prop. Rev. 110 (1999), available at http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/35/11/98/PDF/EIPR-1999.pdf.

3G

Perhaps whould be combined with 2G CDMA story

• DOJ review Letter for 3G Patent Pool, http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/public/busreview/200455.htm
• David J. Goodman & Robert A. Myers, 3G Cellular Standards and Patents, 2005 IEEE Wireless Comm. ?, available at http://eeweb.poly.edu/dgoodman/wirelesscom2005.pdf
• Rudi Bekkers, Joel West, The Limits to IPR Standardization Policies As Evidenced By Strategic Patenting in UMTS

Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA) (Fiber ; Physical Layer)

A good physical layer example, showing a significant role for university research.

• Philippe C. Becker, N. Anders Olsson & Jay R. Simpson, Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers: Fundamentals and Technology, 1999.

Texas Instruments/ Discrete Multitone (DMT) (Legacy Last Mile ; Logical Layer)

Stanford prof. patents technologies, starts spinoff, sells for exorbitant profit to TI, which proceeds to make lots of money through very aggressive licensing strategy on critical broadband technology. A nice example in the wired space, but similar to Qualcomm in the strongly proprietary strategy it illustrates?

• Rivette and Kline, Rembrandts in the Attic: Unlocking the Hidden Value of Patents (1999), at 125, 146.
• http://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/25/business/patents-aggressive-defender-branches-out.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
• http://news.stanford.edu/pr/98/980429dmt.html
• http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=903214

Others

• SONET optical standard? - Fiber ; Logical Layer
• Some discrete component of DOCSIS standard (perhaps security protocols?) - Legacy Last Mile ; Logical Layer
• Some part of 802.11 standard - Wireless Last 100 Feet ; Logical Layer (802.11 discussions ongoing, interesting, with patent issue forced in 2005 by WWiSE group)
• Internet Protocol - All Network Components ; Logical Layer (well known story, hugely important, illustrates public sector importance)
• Google Voice vs. New Alcatel-Lucent Voice Product - Service & Application Layer (direct competition between in-network and over-the-top services)
• WebEx Cisco Acquisition - Service & Application Layer (over the top provider gets bought by tradition in-network equipment provider)
• Some open source Internet-based telecom Project? - Service & Application Layer

Interviews

My current intention is to do interviews after I have written the narrative. Possible candidates for interviews:

• John Liebovitz, Telecom entrepreneur (Frontline wireless, among other ventures) [done: John Liebovitz Feedback Notes]
• Paul De Sa, McKinsey Telecommunications
• Stagg Newman, former FCC, Bell Labs
• Tom Eisenmann, HBS
• Terry Huval, Director of Lafayette, LA Utility Systems‘ FTTH project
• Rudi Bekkers, http://home.tm.tue.nl/rbekkers/

Bibliography

Jonathan E. Neuchterlein and Philip J. Weiser, Digital Crossroads: American Telecommunicaions Policy in the Internet Age, 2007.

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