The Dream of a Unified Telecommunications Network

With the advent of the internet, telecommunications has made the world a smaller place through the World Wide Web. Information is shared to so many people that it has become paramount to the spreading of ideas and events. With this, the telecommunications industry is verging on becoming the first, unified, global public service over simply a corporation-based industry. Creating a free, unified service allows for communications to happen anywhere by any person. No longer will citizens be barred from using their cell phone in foreign countries, and no longer will people in the emerging world have to spend more to communicate less. However, before this transition to becoming a global network can occur, the industry must overcome many issues from around the world such as government privacy policy, censorship, standardization of technology, and piracy.

In order for the industry to become a global standard, it must be embraced by world governments. In the present, we exist telecommunications is both feared and misused by the government. Scandals such as U.S. cell phone monitoring, and regulation such as the breakup of AT&T and T-Mobile show the extent to which the government is trying to control the telecommunications industry. Governments recognize the power and necessity of communication, but need it to serve their own interests. As such, there are many governments across the world who censors the telecommunications industry for their own benefit. China and Iran are two countries who restrict their citizens’ access to web content. An industry cannot become globally unified if all the global users do not have the same type of access, or if they fear their government is tracking them.

In order to solve the issues of government privacy policy and censorship, the industry must be given over to the hands of a non-partisan, global, non-profit organization, similar to the United Nations. The group would consist of members from every country who serve the greater goal of a global network, as opposed to their own country. It will oversee the safe use and distribution of telecommunications across the world, and will not profit from the proliferation of technology. Like this, an independent system can exist to keep the internet free of bias-regulation and censorship.

The industry also faces issues in the various types of technology used, as well as the piracy of this technology. So many companies fight in the market, that there exists many types of methods of telecommunications. In cell phones, for example, two carriers within the same country may use different technology standards. This makes it impossible to communicate globally. The piracy of this technology is also an issue because it hurts corporate profits, and leads to price hikes. The creation of an independent governing body to choose standard technology, and virtually combat privacy will be key to solving these barriers. This global group will independently serve the people, and work to bring the best technology to the market.

By creating this global governing body to standardize the equipment and regulate international telecomm usage, information will become safer and more accessible to all citizens. This system would appeal to world governments because it removes the burden of privacy and regulation from their shoulders. At the same time, telecomm corporations will finally be able to operate globally. Most importantly, the end-user will finally be able to be in control of their telecommunications, rather than at the whim of corporate pricing and government censorship.