Globalization and Telecommunication Technologies Jasni Mohamad Zain Department of Information Systems and Computing, Brunel University, Uxbridge UB8 3PH E-mail : Jasni.Zain@brunel.ac.uk Abstract Rapid deregulation policy and the development of computer technology, including developments in broadcasting communications, formed a powerful tool in the globalization process. This has resulted in the domination of world markets by trans-national corporations that face very little competition due to their overwhelming market force. Now multinationals based in the industrialize world have access to all parts of the world. This paper will look at global telecommunications, namely satellite/cable TV, the Internet and mobile phones. These technologies can be seen as tools for globalization process. I will then describe the three telecommunications technologies in turn and discuss some effects of globalization to society. Keywords: Globalization, telecommunication Introduction In the rapidly changing world of technology, it is difficult to keep pace of developments. As one form of communication is overtaken by another, the inherent possibilities of more varied forms, and patterns of communications become more complex. It is only since the early 1980s that computers have become so commonplace and have become transformed from the bulky and carefully closeted ‘mainframes’ to the stand alone, personal pieces of equipment populating many desks. When one adds to this the ways in which computers can now be connected to each other via electronic mail networks (e-mail) or facsimile modems, the potential for faster and more efficient forms of communication is obvious. The convergence of computer and telecommunications facilities is thus of relatively recent, and it signifies the transition from the more traditional and commonplace forms of communication via the wire-telephone network to a sophisticated system of communication which links together three essential features, namely computers, telephone systems (including mobile) and satellites. A document produced in one place can be printed in another. The most obvious example of this is the London Financial Times, which is written and edited in London but printed in a number of different European locations. Other examples would include the Arab newspapers currently being published in London. It is clear that the relations between working and living, within the workplace, in cultural forms, are indeed changing rapidly in response to informational technologies (Harvey 2000). This essay will look at global telecommunications, namely satellite/cable TV, the Internet and mobile phones. These technologies can be seen as tools for globalization process. I will then describe the three telecommunications technologies in turn and discuss some effects of globalization to society. Let us first look at globalization in the context of telecommunications before going further. What is globalization? Globalization can be grasped in terms of the world capitalist economy, the nation-state system, the world military order and the world global information system (Giddens 1990). The global