Week 4 What Privatization of Gobal communication means to us?

Since when it became a shame to say the communication services within a nation-state are subject to the state regulations? Since when it became a fashion to claim that the communication market of a nation-state is liberalized and open to privatization?

After reading this week's reading "Global Communication Infrastructure", I am impressed by the scale and depth of the privatization of the global communication that has been taking place since the late 20th century.

In the reading, the author cited two case studies: Intelsat and the Murdoch's News Corporation.
Intelsat first emerged as a product of the global communication liberalization--it was created in 1946 as an intergovernmental treaty organization to operate a global satellite system for telecommunications services, offering affordable satellite capacity on a non-discriminatory basis. At the time it was created, commercial satellite communication did not exist and most telecommunications organizations were state-controlled monopolies.
The clients of Intelsat included 143 member countries, and its main goal is to provide equal access to satellite communications for countries in the world. It used to play crucial rols in bringing satellite technology to the South. However, after the privatization, merger and acquisition happened from 2002 to 2005, Intelsat has to charged the same rate for all routes. Given their economic situation, poorer countries found it difficult to afford the satellite communication services.
Not only intelsat, generally speaking, empirical experience suggests that nowadays the satellite communication as a result of the great contingency of the global communication demands substantial investment and high risk, therefore only large businesses and governments will be able to afford this kind of service.


Intelsat: Rich communication, poor democracy: poorer countries cannot afford to get their words across.

Rupet Murdoch's Media Empire: The eyes of the world are on us: Cultural imperialism
Murdoch's ambition to create a global communication empire has brought TV stations,Radios, newspapers, magazines from across the continents reaching nearly half a billion people in more than 70 countries. Although many of its overseas operations is broadcasting the contents they subscribe from the host countries', the large part of the news corporation TV programs and news are produced based on the News Corporation proposition. In my perspective, this is what Murdoch's statement " The eye of the world are on us" really means.

Summary: The global shift from state regulation to market-driven policies are evident in all sectors of international communications--take a look at Murdoch's sweeping-floors acquisitions thru the globe, and the Intelsat transforming from a international non-profit to a private hold communication hardware--the expansion of private capitals in the global communication system have also contributed in widening the gap between the rich and the poor and not necessarily creating more public sphere for democracy.