Dr. Sanders Contributes to Industry Report Dr. Steven G. Sanders wrote an article that is included in the book he is holding, the International Engineering Consortium’s IP Applications and Services 2003: A Comprehensive Report. Dr. Sanders is president of NATCO at Flippin and often participates in seminars and conferences of the engineering consortium on issues affecting the telecommunications industry.

The International Engineering Consortium has published an article by Dr. Steven G. Sanders of Mountain Home as part of a comprehensive report on Internet applications and services for 2003. His article is titled: “New Services on a Converged Network: What the End User Wants.”

Dr. Sanders is president of Northern Arkansas Telephone Company of Flippin, a family- owned, independent telephone company he has headed for 25 years. He frequently participates in telecommunications industry seminars and has testified on telecommunications issues before state and federal legislative committees. He was a panelist at the latest IEC SuperComm in June in Atlanta discussing emerging services.

According to the IEC, the 2003 report includes “real-world experiences of industry leaders” to provide insight into the ever-changing information industry.

Dr. Sanders writes that public acceptance of the Internet and digital cellular telephones has been amazing, but consumers have not accepted other high technology services. He says the telecom industry is rushing to create a converged Internet protocol network, perhaps before it knows what services the consumer will buy.

Among the services consumers want are e-mail and wireless phones, along with digital phone services such as call waiting, caller ID, voice mail, Centrex for businesses, and basic Internet services, Dr. Sanders says.

Consumers have also registered some “user problems” such as long boot-up times, Web browsing being too time consuming, complicated technology, spam, pop-up windows, and others. The average consumer will not put up with complex or unreliable procedures to sample a new service, he observes.

In the future, as the telecom industry is developing new services, Dr. Sanders advises, “When we design new services, we do not want to fall into the trap of creating a service because the technology has evolved to a point that we can now do it. The question is whether the customer needs it or not.” Dr. Sanders’ article also addresses cost issues, regulatory issues and subsidies.

NATCO’s offices are at 301 E. Main St. in Flippin, telephone 1-800-775-6682. The Web address is www.natconet.com. Other company Web sites are www.natcotech.com and www.southshore.com.