The telecommunications industry is an extraordinarily dynamic element in an economic transformation whose impact rivals the industrial revolution. The interlinking of computers through communications networks is the centerpiece of a networked economy and society. The Columbia Institute for Tele-Information (CITI) investigates the impacts of competition and technology on the U.S. telecommunications industry in the global context. Through close interaction between academic and telecommunications industry experts, the Institute evaluates the factors that help telecommunications, as well as other high-technology industries, maintain global competitiveness.

   CITI gathers information on investment, technology, employment, organizational structure, R&D, and more. Analyses include regular visits to telecommunications firms. The Institute has established a base of corporate affiliates which includes U.S. telecommunications carriers; technology firms; international companies in eight countries; media and Internet firms; and consulting companies. Research activities are divided into three main areas: 1) the dynamics of network and media firms; 2) network competition and changing business models; and 3) the impact of the Internet on telecommunications and media industries.

   The Institute contributes to Columbia's MBA concentration in Media Management and is a conduit for the next generation of researchers and leaders in the fields of media and telecommunications. An Executive Advisory Board provides input to the Institute's research agenda.

   The Institute's multi-disciplinary contributors have published significant findings in recent book projects such as Media Ownership in America; Media and Communications Management; Mobile Media Content and Services for Wireless Communications; The Economics of Digital Television; Interconnecting the Network of Networks; The Investment Theory of Real Options and Its Implications for the Cost Models in Telecommunications; Internet Television; Competition for the Mobile Internet; Crisis Communications: Lessons from September 11; and The Economics of Peer-to-Peer Networks.