Customer Reviews

Tele-Revolution : Telephone Competition at the Speed of Light, A History of the Creation of a Competitive Local Telephone Industry, 1984-2000

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a must read for anyone who appreciates the hard work, creativity and missteps involved in trying to dismantle a century old monoploly. Tomlinson does a supberb job in describing the people, business plans and technology deployed to open up the US local telephone market to competition. Nobody to date has provided such a lucid and compelling saga of the local competition story. Tomlinson has a gift for pulling together the various disparate threads involved in this story over a decade and a half and turning it into a thrilling and well written page turner. Tomlinson is an acute observer of the industry and has the perspective and literary skills to generate what is certainly the definitive book in its class. The book is historically accurate, but views the industry not only from the macro level but from the individual, micro level as well. Rarely do I recall enjoying a book as much as I did Tele-Revolution. For anyone involved in the telecom industry (either in the US or abroad) or for students of regulated industries and business strategies, they will find the book of enormous value and interest. I strongly recommend it.

As an early employee of one of the first Competitive Local Exhange Carriers, I lived through many of the events recounted in this book. From this perspective, the book "tells it like it was." This book is about the key personalities and the accidents and incidents shaped the telecommunications "revolution." The author provides enough information about the technology and legal/regulatory changes that were both cause and effect of the "revolution" to provide the necessary context and background for the story but it is not a dense, technical book. Rather, it is akin to a history of the American Revolution that focuses on the Founding Fathers and the fortuitous accidents that, in retrospect, changed the outcome of the war but, at the time, were seen as just another skirmish or not even noted at all.

The lesson learned from the book is that a modern business revolution--like any successful revolution--is due to a combination of factors: visionary, inspiring leadership; the ability of the revolutionaries to more swiftly adapt to accidents and uncontrollable incidents than the incumbents; courageous, dedicated and probaly naive troops; financial backers; and, lastly, good luck.

Tele-revolution is a classic in very sense.The research at the end of each chapter is complete and well documented, a credit to the author.The dreamers---who dreamed, made a whole new industry. Some made it,others did not.I worked as a consultant during the period mention in the book for five differt Region Bell Operating companies---and they never got it as to what was driving the individuals discussed in the book.The research alone is well done.This is a brilliant written book and will become a major source of research for decades to come.Clearly written by somone who understands the industry.Any one in communications needs to read this book.

Dick Tomlinson does a superb job of presenting an insightful and accurate picture of how competitive forces were injected into the local telephone industry. Dr. Tomlinson has served as an industry observer for over two decades, and was intimately involved in the development of the initial wave of companies seeking to compete with the incumbent local telephone companies. This permits Tomlinson to uniquely tell the intriguing story of how local telecom competition got started and continues to move forward. While this book is a must-read for anyone associated with the increasingly competitive telecom industry, it will also be useful at the academic level. Economics, public policy, and industrial organization professors will find the book useful in the classroom setting. The companies and events explored by Dr. Tomlinson will make excellent fodder for case study analyses at both the graduate and undergrad levels. I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in the telecom industry.

A great book for anyone interested in the rebirth of competition in the local phone business. You come away with admiration for the Davids who dared to challenge the Goliaths.