The future of forms of data communications

The first section of the paper is a review of current and planned data communications services. This covers the current state of the art in these services, identifies the need for change and surveys what plans have been made for new services. It looks at what forms of data communications have been established in various countries including the U.K., Germany, U.S.A. and Australia. The second part of the paper poses some key questions. These are broadly similar to those involved in planning other major new investments in utilities or public transportation involving a high degree of technical innovation. They cover the problems of designing a new technology, the pricing of data communications utilities, how to evaluate new services and what the role of the monopoly supplier should be. The paper does not set out to answer these questions but to expose them as areas where controversy is centred, and new research work required.