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veral years on environmental compliance and remediation and has accrued over one million dollars for all environmental liabilities. While it is difficult to estimate future environmental liabilities, GCC does not currently anticipate any material adverse effect on results of operations, cash flows or financial position as a result of compliance with federal, state, local or foreign environmental laws or regulations or remediation costs.

In addition to the above mentioned regulations, telecom regulators who monitor market structure and the proliferation of new technology are now a fact of life around the world. In Africa, the number of countries with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has nearly doubled over the last decade. According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), 60 per cent of African regulatory agencies have been become ‘independent’; thus, attracting more private investment. However, while private invest in telecommunications has nearly quadrupled in Africa since 2000, investment in Latin America and the Caribbean has experienced a dramatic decrease during the same time period. There are a large number of cases where private participation in telecommunications in Africa has been affected by discriminatory regulatory decisions. In some areas, tariff regulation is essentially set by the fixed-line traditional operator. However, in other areas, traditional fixed-line operators are protected by the agencies in line with government preferences. In addition to independence and good governance, accountability of political institutions is also needed to enhance the predictability of regulatory processes and increase investment. However, political accountability is a much larger challenge in Africa than OECD countries.

Technological Environment

Another force leading to the globalization of this industries business environment is the advancement in communication technologies. New communications networks are an enabling technology, resulting in access to knowledge; a great equalizer. For example, fiber optic networks span the world enabling companies to see the free flow of their goods, synchronize manufacturing, and utilize labor. Advances in transportation technologies allow firms to utilize ships, air transport, processes, and the concept of containerization to aid their globalization processes. Communication and transportation technology completely alter the movement of goods in terms of size of supply chain issues as well as inventory. Through paying more for technology, companies can reduce other costs. This expansion is a force that has made the Wire and Cable industries products available globally.

While the US/Canada region is considered the leader in the technological environment, the Europe/North African and ROW regions have seen dramatic increases throughout the last several decades. Overall, global spending on infrastructure and energy increases as nations develop, driving demand for General Cable's industrial products For example, China recently launched an optical fiber cable transmission project in Medog, a rural county of southeast Tibet, without fiber cable. The county is the last of China’s 2100 counties to be connected to a highway and fiber cable. Furthermore, upgrades to the 3G networks and wireless broadband services have drastically reduced the isolation of the rural county and the highway/fiber cable connection will eventual