TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Our Telephonic Primacy

Our Telephonic Primacy

By William F. S. Miles | March 21, 2005

"WE'RE NUMBER One!"

Americans often make this jingoistic boast in bouts of competitive
patriotism. But on what basis? When it comes to the standard
international ranking of countries in terms of human development (life
expectancy, literacy, and purchasing power, as compiled by the United
Nations Development Program), the United States comes in a
respectable, but hardly chest thumping, number 7 (bested by Belgium,
for goodness sake!) Even when it comes to the kind of measure with
which UN-suspicious free marketeers are more comfortable --
straightforward GDP per capita -- we're still outdone by the likes of
Norway and, Lord help us, Luxembourg.

There is one incontrovertible standard by which we are first, though:
international telephone ranking. I am not referring to cellphone use:
In this respect we are laggards, trailing 34 other countries
(including Estonia). I don't even mean the extent of regular
landlines, where we are again 7th, squeaking ahead of those loquacious
Icelanders.

No, the one measure by which we are literally Number 1 is our
International Country Code. When you call home from overseas, you need
merely hit (after dialing the international circuit) the number 1.

Disappointed? Don't be. There is much we can learn about the world,
and America's place in it, by examining the international telephone
code chart.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/03/21/our_telephonic_primacy/

-------------------------------

Post Followup Article	Use your browser's quoting feature to quote article into reply
Go to Next message: DevilsPGD: "Re: Level 3 Withdraws Request for VoIP Fee Ruling"
Go to Previous message: rick.lenhart@gmail.com: "Re: Mobile IP Networks"
Next in thread: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com: "Re: Our Telephonic Primacy"
May be reply: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com: "Re: Our Telephonic Primacy"
May be reply: Justin Time: "Re: Our Telephonic Primacy"
May be reply: Dave Garland: "Re: Our Telephonic Primacy"
May be reply: John Smith: "Re: Our Telephonic Primacy"
May be reply: BobGoudreau@withheld: "Re: Our Telephonic Primacy"
May be reply: AES: "Re: Our Telephonic Primacy"
May be reply: Dave Garland: "Re: Our Telephonic Primacy"
TELECOM Digest: Home Page