Hyunmi Baek

Estimating the Cost of Universal Service Obligation: A Review of International Practices and Comparative Analysis

It is only natural, given that the competition environment and policy priorities in the telecommunications market vary from one country to another, that methods for assessing the cost of universal service obligations differ as well. In Korea, with the introduction of LRIC for assessing the universal service cost in 2004, the national telecommunications authority (MIC) is preparing for a substantial revision of the current cost assessment method, and discussions on details of changes to be introduced are in full swing. This paper will explore estimation methods for universal service costs adopted by countries around the world by dividing them into three large categories, and compare practices concerning two of the major issues surrounding the assessment of universal service obligation cost-universal service cost ceiling and intangible benefits-to provide directions for changes to be introduced to Koreas own cost estimation model

Universal Service Regulations with United Perspectives on the Access Charge Controls and Price Controls

Universal service regulation has introduced in order to expand a penetration of telephone services in respect of government policies and have evolved resulting from market openness and fully competitive market based regulations. What are the approaches of competitive market based regulations that the price controls and access charge controls have been introduced. Regulators have taken account of the regulatory direction of universal service obligation strongly related to price controls and access charge controls. In Korea, Universal Service Fund was founded in 2000 after local telephone service competitor entered. Prior to 2000, access charges included switching costs and universal service cost incurred providing network access to use telephone services in affordable rate. Besides local call price controls was permitted from government and not allowable to rebalance rates by universal service provider and the rates was not recovered cost of providing services. This paper presents the review of universal service regulation through the integrated analysis on access charge controls and price controls in several counties and the relationships between the three regulations

Network elements demand estimating model for mobile LRIC

Termination access service on mobile networks is regarded as a bottleneck service in many countries, and is regulated based on its cost. For cost-based regulation, the historical cost based on accounting data was used in the past. Recently, however, the application of long run incremental cost (LRIC) based on the bottom-up approach has been on the rise, as is the case with wireline networks. In order to estimate LRIC, it is necessary to design a mobile network according to engineering criteria, to estimate the required numbers of individual network components and to convert them into an investment cost. In wireline sector, network design methodology has been established relatively well for estimating LRIC. In mobile sector, however, more studies are required on the methodology for designing networks and estimating required numbers of individual network components. This study reviews foreign cases of bottom-up approach for mobile LRIC and then presents methods of designing mobile networks and estimating required numbers of individual network elements suitable for Korean situation.

Revisiting the Relationship between Information Technology Capability and Firm Performance: Focusing on the Impact of the Adoption of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems

Many information systems (IS) researchers have attempted to examine the relationship between information technology (IT) capability and firm performance. To explain the IT capabilities of firms, prior researchers have addressed Enterprise Systems (ES). ES can be defined as “commercial software packages that enable the integration of transaction-oriented data and business processes throughout an organization (and perhaps eventually throughout the entire interorganizational supply chain)” (Markus and Tanis, 2000). ES can include “ERP software and such related packages as advanced planning and scheduling, sales force automation, customer relationship management, and product configuration” (Markus and Tanis, 2000). As sources of firms’ competitive advantage,