A Content-Based Pricing Model for Municipal and Community Wireless Networks

The escalation of municipal and community wireless networks (CWNs) has raised many questions about the most suitable business model, funding instrument, and service pricing policy for a specific community. Unlike traditional Internet service providers, these networks provide wireless Internet access for the purpose of boosting the social and economic development of the community at large. Therefore, such projects need customized business models and pricing policies in order to achieve these objectives. We propose a content-based pricing model where the price of wireless applications is an increasing function of the used bandwidth and a decreasing function of the provided packet delay. We used the Opnet simulation tool to validate the proposed pricing model. The simulation results show that network operators may charge users only for audio and video applications because of the high bandwidth they use compared to data applications. The proposed pricing solution considers the social and economic objectives of CWNs

A Stock Options Metaphor for Content Delivery Networks

The concept of Stock Options is used to address the scarcity of resources, not adequately addressed by the previous tools of our Prediction Mechanism. Using a Predictive Reservation Scheme, network and disk resources are being monitored through well-established techniques (Kernel Regression Estimators) in a given time frame. Next, an Secondary Market mechanism significantly improves the efficiency and robustness of our Predictive Reservation Scheme by allowing the fast exchange of unused (remaining) resources between the Origin Servers (CDN Clients). This exchange can happen, either by implementing socially optimal practices or by allowing automatic electronic auctions at the end of the day or at shorter time intervals. Finally, we further enhance our Prediction Mechanism; Stock Options are obtained and exercised, depending on the lack of resources at the end of day. As a result, Origin Servers may acquire resources (if required) at a normal price. The effectiveness of our mechanism further improves.Comment: 35 pages, 13 figure

Design and implementation of a network revenue management architecture for marginalised communities

Rural Internet connectivity projects aimed at bridging the digital divide have mushroomed across many developing countries. Most of the projects are deployed as community centred projects. In most of the cases the initial deployment of these projects is funded by governments, multilateral institutions and non-governmental organizations. After the initial deployment, financial sustainability remains one of the greatest challenges facing these projects. In the light of this, externally funded ICT4D interventions should just be used for “bootstrapping” purposes. The communities should be “groomed” to take care of and sustain these projects, eliminating as soon as possible a dependency on external funding. This master thesis presents the design and the implementation of a generic architecture for the management of the costs associated with running a computer network connected to the Internet, The proposed system, called the Network Revenue Management System, enables a network to generate revenue, by charging users for the utilization of network resources. The novelty of the system resides in its flexibility and adaptability, which allow the exploration of both conventional and non-conventional billing options, via the use of suitable ‘adapters’. The final goal of the exploration made possible by this system is the establishment of what is regarded as equitable charging in rural, marginalized communities - such as the community in Dwesa, South Africa