Technology is the foundation for many of the ethical obstacles the telecommunications industry faces today and has faced in the past. One of the major ethical issues is the implementation of advancing technology that requires the public to transition from one product or service to another. Companies naturally compete against one another to be the sole provider of said product and/or service which farms conflict competitors. Territory plays a large role in the direction of the industry and today, the public wants things to be faster and they want it now. With such high demand for services the government is almost required to serve as regulator in some means.
Telecommunications, as much as the industry creates convenience for customers, there is also much frustration over the inconvenience created. An example being the recent cable switches over from analog cable to digital cable. This was supported and enforced by the government and has upset many Comcast customers, as they may or may not have approved a cable switch but are now being forced to abide to enjoy their cable provider’s service. Comcast has guaranteed a small number of free digital cable boxes for clients but this can leave customers paying for what is not provided even if they want nothing to do with their new cable switch.
To some Comcast could be the only potential cable provider. What a telecommunications company faces is the ethical dilemma of forcing a transition of cable from analog to digital on customers. Customers do not have much of a choice in this company move but the digital cable promises a better service for the future. If Comcast were to have listened to customer complaints then maybe both Comcast and the customers will miss out on a brighter future for cable. There is a dilemma for the cable customers in their desire for improvement but frustration for short term inconvenience and the ethical battle is within what is truly necessary for the betterment of the company. Will the company and customers benefit? Will this only bring money to the company at the expense of the customers? Is this all necessary? Will we hurt customer relations if we force a transition like this on our customers? Is the government involvement inappropriate?
The questions I have listed above do not even begin to cover the many ethical conflicts this industry can face, and I have only focused on the television aspect of telecommunications. Assumingly, all other aspects will face similar conflicts at some point so long as technology continues to advance at the incredible rate it has thus far.
As the telecommunication market has increased, more and more stakeholders are involed in this area. Thus, arvitration council (such as Government) is required to solve conflicts. But, It is hard to say intervention of government is desirable because of nature of telecommunication market.
ReplyDeleteGood narrative. You have a good point involving ethics here in that is it ethical to upset your customers and force them to change to a newer more tech savvy cable service. I know that I have close friends and relatives who were affected by this and they weren't all that happy. However I suppose that for the most part the ethical concerns about this specific action are very much mitigated as most newer tvs were ready for the switch and the older ones merely needed an additional box. Do you have any news articles relating to this situation? it would be interesting to see how the general public and news reacted to this forced switch.
ReplyDeleteYes, I was also a victim of the cable switch and can vouch for the annoyance that comes with installing the digital cable boxes.
ReplyDeleteHere are a couple links below that touch on the points I made.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/22/AR2009042203608.html
http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/11/08/comcasts-march-to-100-digital-will-raise-rates-and-alienate-millions/