 USA: Telecoms and technology background
FROM THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT
The US is the world’s largest consumer of information and communications technology (ICT), and in many sectors, such as personal computers (PCs), it is also home to the world’s largest producers. US dominance of the ICT industry is based partly on its sheer size: with a population of 290m with very high income levels, the US is a huge consumer and business market for ICT products and services. US companies have a dominant global role in the manufacture of computers (Dell, Hewlett-Packard and IBM), the development of computer software (Microsoft and Oracle) and the provision of Internet access (AOL and Microsoft-owned MSN).
During the dotcom boom of 1996-2000, ICT spending played an important role in fuelling US economic growth. The Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) of the US Department of Commerce estimates that ICT spending was responsible for nearly one-third of overall US GDP growth during that period.
Employment in the information technology (IT)-producing industries reached a peak of 5.4m in 2000 (4% of the labour force), but fell sharply in 2001-02 as the dotcom bubble burst. Around 600,000 IT jobs were lost in those two years, with employment in the IT-producing industries down to 4.8m in 2002.
Job growth returned to the ICT sector in 2003-04, but continued productivity improvements and foreign outsourcing of IT jobs mean that employment growth has not returned to its peak rate reached in the late 1990s.
The ESA estimates that the output of IT-producing industries amounted to US$872bn in 2003 (8% of GDP). The retrenchment that occurred in 2001-02 particularly affected the hardware and communications equipment sectors; the other two main sectors, namely software services and communications services, were relatively unscathed. Confidence in the IT-producing sector returned in 2003-04, with new technological breakthroughs and a recovery in ICT investment. The intersection of life sciences with IT-enabled data-processing capabilities has spawned new fields, such as bioinformatics, while the use of the Internet and the growth of e-commerce continue to transform many aspects of economic activity.
The US is the world’s largest exporter of IT goods and services, with estimated sales by US IT companies and their overseas affiliates of over US$1trn. Yet the US registered a deficit in IT goods trade of more than US$87bn in 2003, with exports of US$110bn and imports US$197bn on record. This large deficit reflects sales abroad by foreign affiliates of US IT companies, and intrafirm trade by US- and foreign-owned IT firms, as well as the globalisation of US research and development (R&D). It shows that the global deployment of production and distribution capacity is both a requirement and an indication of competitive success.
The US telecommunications market was deregulated in the 1980s when the world’s largest corporation at the time, AT&T, was split into a long-distance company (still known as AT&T) and a handful of regional companies known as "Baby Bells". The telecoms deregulation act of 1996, intended to promote competition by allowing diversification into distance and local telephony and into cable-TV, led to a spate of mergers between local and regional phone companies.
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Useful links:
- EIU ViewsWire United States of America for comprehensive political, economic and business analysis of the United States of America
- Association of University Technology Managers World project to advance the field of technology transfer.
- Bureau of Customs and Border Protection
- Copyright Office, Library of Congress
- Department of Commerce (DoC)
- Department of Justice, Antitrust Division
- Department of Labour
- Department of the Treasury
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- Economic Development Administration (EDA)
- Energy Technology division at Argonne National Laboratory conducts research on materials and engineering problems associated with energy production, transportation, utilization, and conservation.
- Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
- Export-Import Bank (Exim Bank)
- Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
- First Gov official technology information and services from the U.S. government
- Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
- Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS)
- Foreign Trade Zones Board, Department of Commerce
- IBC Life Sciences provider of scientific, technological and business information
- International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce
- International Revenue Service (IRS)
- International Trade Commission (ITC)
- Journal of technology education includes scholarly discussions on technology education.
- National Association of State Development Agencies
- National Institute of Standards and Technology works with industry to foster innovation, trade security and jobs.
- National Nanotechnology Initiative is a federal R&D program established to coordinate the multiagency efforts in nanoscale science, engineering, and technology.
- National Technical Information Service is the largest central resource for government-funded scientific, technical, engineering, and business related information available
- National Technology Transfer Centre Provides access to federal technology information, technology and market assessment services, technology marketing and assistance in finding strategic partners.
- National Telecommunications and Information Administration for the USA - publications, reports and policies on telecommunications and information
- Technology-Based provider of power and automation products, systems, solutions, and services.
- Technology Futures Inc. provides technology management, strategy, and forecasting services to a wide variety of commercial, government, and academic organizations
- The US Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, Office of International Investment, Department of Treasury
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Department of Labour
- Office of foreign Asset Control (OFAC), Department of the Treasury
- Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC)
- Patent and Trademark Office, Department of Commerce
- Private Export Funding Corporation(PEFCO)
- Office of the US Trade Representative(USTR)
- Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Office of International Affairs
- Small Business Administration (SBA)
- US Agency for International Development (USAID)
- US Chamber of Commerce
- USA Technologies provider of tech information and services
- Washington Technology is a business Intelligence magazine for government systems integrators.
SOURCE: The Economist Intelligence Unit
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