Introduction

Communication has always been a basic human need. People primarily used it for security. They define the transfer of information across time and place as telecommunications, and consider that it has been with them from the very beginning of civilisation, as illustrated in the Royal Mail example. This chapter establishes a context within which they may analyse present day broadband telecommunication systems. It demonstrates the complexity of the underlying technologies, business structure, and policy requirement of constructing and operating the industry ecosystem, and describes models which can be used for its analysis. The Royal Mail telecommunications system is a good example of the analysis model. In this model three important elements contribute to the success of a product: technology, business and policy. The chapter demonstrates that an overall evaluation of all three elements is necessary in analysing a telecommunications technology product.