CMAs in Telecommunications: The Challenge Ahead

Dzinkowski, Ramona, CMA - the Management Accounting Magazine

The telecommunications system in Canada is one of the most competitive and technologically sophisticated in the world and the quality of communications services provided to Canadians is second to none. Despite these accolades, the dramatic changes that have swept telecommunications markets at home and abroad have challenged Canada's position as a world leader in this industry. For the first time in the history of telecommunications, regulatory reforms have exposed Canada's telephone monopolies to the pressures of competition. Recent landmark rulings of the CRTC have broken down the monopoly structure of the long distance and local telephone markets and have opened the way for competition between telco and cable companies. Consequently, many of these companies are undergoing major strategic and operational changes to cope with the effects of entrants into their traditionally protected markets.

While getting used to operating within this new paradigm, Canada's largest telcos are watching their long distance market shares drop by as much as 22 per cent due to competition from alternative exchange suppliers like Sprint and Unitel (AT&T). Meanwhile, new technologies have resulted in the convergence of the once well-separated telephony and cable industries, opening up previously untapped multi-media markets and intensifying the already frenetic atmosphere that characterizes telecommunications management in Canada today.

These changes have had a profound impact upon the way Canada's telcos conduct their business. Widespread cost-realignment, downsizing, process re-engineering, total quality management initiatives, and other advanced management accounting practices reflect a new emphasis on cost-competitiveness …

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Publication information: Article title: CMAs in Telecommunications: The Challenge Ahead. Contributors: Dzinkowski, Ramona - Author. Magazine title: CMA - the Management Accounting Magazine. Volume: 70. Issue: 1 Publication date: February 1996. Page number: 24+. © 1991 Society of Management Accountants of Canada. COPYRIGHT 1996 Gale Group.

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