Chapter List

The service provider s mission on QoS has to be realistically tempered with the external drivers. The customer s requirements are an obvious one. Others chosen to illustrate this aspect are the role of regulation and the standards bodies. The interaction between the customer and regulator with the provider has to be studied on a country -by- country basis whereas that with the standards body is perhaps more uniform with all countries. This section addresses the key issues in the relationship between these drivers and the providers.

19.1 Introduction

User groups exist to represent the users interests in many industries and trades. User groups representing the users of telecommunications services have evolved, noticeably in the recent past. For other utilities, such as water, electricity and gas, which have reached maturity, the current principal issues are related to distribution, cost of supply and perhaps also quality of the commodities. Telecommunications offers additional challenges to representatives of users on issues such as quality of services being developed, worldwide compatibility and interworking of services and greater interaction between the service providers and the terminal equipment manufacturers for better use of network capabilities. With the prospect of rapid and continued growth in the range and use of telecommunications services and depth of technology there is increased scope for user groups to influence various bodies involved in the provision of services. User groups could play an exciting...