Signal Failure

The rise and fall of the British Telecoms industry

by John Polden

This book was pleasantly surprising, far from a traditional linear review of the telecommunications market through time; Signal Failure takes a novel approach. Reviewing the disruption of new technologies entering the markets in various countries, most notably UK, US, Netherlands, Germany, and others rather than a traditional linier timeline. The very nature of telecommunications results in an interconnected market, with some suppliers becoming titans. John Polden acknowledges this and follows the technology through concept, development and replacement neatly highlighting the relationships between countries and technology to a timescale readers can follow.

Bringing national politics and industry to the forefront of some sections John Polden highlights to the reader how the governments of the time in various nations can constrain or grow industry, with analysis on the effects this has had outside their sovereign borders. Within sections of his book John Polden demonstrates how public owned industry such as the GPO struggle to develop at the speed of relevance, especially when he compares this to private industry. When this is combined with privatisation and the technological advancements within the telecoms industry, John Polden makes some great analytical comparisons.

Whilst this book primarily refers to the period 1950 – 2000, John Polden accepts there are far reaching implications that are highly relevant to his book outside this period. He refers to them for the completeness of the text, but most of the focus remains on the core subject throughout.

Full of references, academic material, and a comprehensive review of the industry as it developed through arguably its most turbulent and rapidly maturing timeframe. As John Polden reviews different technologies, he jumps back and forth through the timeline. This whilst understandable to ensure the reader follows the maturation of the technology rather than a simple timeline of development, does lead to a disjointed feeling in the natural reading flow of the book. This book is a more advanced read, having a basic understanding of telecommunications is essential before beginning this book. Whilst highly interesting, the fragmented reading flow, combined with some grammatical mistakes throughout makes this more of an academic text than an interest read.

At 325 Pages long, Signal Failure is well balanced between comprehensive coverage of the industry and technological developments without being excessively long. The average reader could expect to read Signal Failure over a period of roughly 7 hours, although more time is required to delve deeper into the supporting academic material John Polden provides. I would recommend this to anyone with a background or understanding of telecommunications as a good grounding of how the industry has developed.

Major Andrew Boyes

Published by: Artech House, 31 May 2024. 244 pages.

ISBN-13: 978-1685690571