Beyond Infrastructure: Broadband for Development in Remote and Indigenous Regions

Recent telecommunications stimulus projects in the U.S. and Canada were intended to increase availability of broadband through funding infrastructure investments, largely in rural and remote regions. However, true access involves more than availability; it also includes affordability and adoption. This paper presents a framework for analyzing broadband adoption that takes into consideration geographical, economic and cultural environments in indigenous communities. It includes an overview of potential social and economic impacts of broadband in remote areas, using examples from the Alaska study and the Canadian North. It then reports on results of an evaluation of Internet use and potential adoption of broadband in remote indigenous communities of southwest Alaska. Finally, the paper provides a comparative analysis of U.S. and Canadian policies intended to achieve affordable access to broadband for rural users and sustainable business models for rural broadband providers.Ye

Toward Universal Broadband in Rural Alaska

The TERRA-Southwest project is extending broadband service to 65 communities in the Bristol Bay, Bethel and Yukon-Kuskokwim regions. A stimulus project funded by a combination of grants and loans from the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), TERRA-Southwest has installed a middle-mile network using optical fiber and terrestrial microwave. Last-mile service will be through fixed wireless or interconnection with local telephone networks. The State of Alaska, through its designee Connect Alaska, also received federal stimulus funding from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for tasks that include support for an Alaska Broadband Task Force “to both formalize a strategic broadband plan for the state of Alaska and coordinate broadband activities across relevant agencies and organizations.” Thus, a study of the impact of the TERRA project in southwest Alaska is both relevant and timely. This first phase provides baseline data on current access to and use of ICTs and Internet connectivity in rural Alaska, and some insights about perceived benefits and potential barriers to adoption of broadband. It is also intended to provide guidance to the State Broadband Task Force in determining how the extension of broadband throughout the state could contribute to education, social services, and economic activities that would enhance Alaska’s future. Results of the research could also be used proactively to develop strategies to encourage broadband adoption, and to identify applications and support needed by users with limited ICT skills.Connect Alaska. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration. General Communications Incorporated.Part 1: An Analysis of Internet Use in Southwest Alaska / Introduction / Previous Studies / Current Connectivity / Analytical Framework and Research Methodology / Demographics / Mobile Phones: Access and Use / Access to the Internet / Internet Useage / Considerations about Internet Service / Interest in Broadband / Sources of News / Comparison with National Data / Internet Use by Businesses and Organizations / What Difference may Broadband make in the Region? / Conclusiongs / Part 2 Literature Review / Reference

Impact of Cultural Tourism upon Urban Economies: An Econometric Exercise

In recent years, interest in tourism has spread rapidly throughout many small and medium European cities, which previously have not necessarily considered themselves as tourist destinations. Tourism is increasingly seen as a potential lever towards high economic growth, measured both in terms of income and employment. In the present Working Paper we report the analysis on the economic impact undertaken in the framework of the PICTURE Project, showing the results of a novel econometric exercise to statistically assess the impacts of cultural tourism upon European municipalities. More precisely the analysis aims at estimating the effects of tourism specialisation on local income and prices. The Working Paper is built as follows. Section 1 presents and discusses secondary data about tourism facts and figures, including the economic impact of tourism upon European economies, with a focus on cultural tourism. An extensive review of literature, which identifies the main categories of impacts and the currently available methodologies to assess them, is undertaken. Section 2 focuses on the state of the art. Section 3 describes the database built for the analysis, sources and variables. In order to visually represent the spatial variability of the main parameters, a series of thematic maps at NUTS 3 level(“Maps of European tourism”), using GIS (Geographical Information System) are also included in the Working Paper. Section 4 shows the results of the econometric analysis of European panel data for the estimation of the effects of tourism specialisation on both local incomes and prices. Section 5 concludes.Cultural Tourism, Economic Growth

Estimating Network Effects and Compatibility in Mobile Telecommunications

This paper provides empirical evidence on the extent of network effects and compatibility between networks in mobile telecommunications. We specify a structural model of demand for mobile telephone service, which allows us to identify the parameters of interest from the S-shape of mobile service diffusion. The network effects are measured by the dependence of consumer willingness to pay on the installed base of subscribers. Compatibility is measured by the relative extent of cross- and own-network effects. As such, it indicates whether the network effects operate at the firm level, at the industry level, or at both. We then estimate this model for the Polish mobile telephone industry using quarterly panel data for the period 1996-2001. We find strong network effects, which give rise to upward-sloping demand, and, despite full interconnection of the mobile telephone networks, low compatibility. We show also that ignoring network effects in empirical models of emerging network industries might substantially bias downward the estimated price elasticity of demand. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG - (Schätzung von Netzwerkeffekten und Kompatibilität in Mobilfunktelekommunikation) Der vorliegende Beitrag bietet empirische Evidenz für den Umfang von Netzwerkeffekten und Netzwerkkompatibilität in der Mobilfunktelekom-munikation. Wir spezifizieren ein strukturelles Modell für die Nachfrage von Mobilfunkdienstleistungen, das die Parameter von Interesse mithilfe der S-förmigen Funktion der Dienstleistungsdiffusion identifiziert. Die Netzwerkeffekte werden durch die Abhängigkeit der Zahlungsbereitschaft der Konsumenten von der installierten Abonnentenbasis gemessen. Netzwerkkompatibilität wird durch den relativen Umfang der Quer- und Eigen-Netzwerkeffekte gemessen. Sie weist darauf hin, ob Netzwerkeffekten auf Unternehmensebene, auf Industrieebene, oder auf beiden Ebenen bestehen. Dann schätzen wir das Modell für die Polnische Mobilfunkindustrie mit vierteljährlichen Paneldaten für 1996-2001. Wir stellen starke Netzwerkeffekte fest, die eine positive Steigung in der Nachfragefunktion verursachen, und - trotz der technisch vollständigen Querverbindung der Mobilfunknetze - niedrige Kompatibilität. Wir zeigen auch, dass das Übersehen von Netzwerkeffekten in empirischen Modellen von neuen Netzwerkindustrien die geschätzte Preiselastizität der Nachfrage signifikant nach unten verzerren kann.Structural Econometric Model, Network Effects, Compatibility, Mobile Telecommunications

Adam Smith goes mobile : managing services beyond 3G with the digital marketplace

The next generation of mobile communications systems is expected to offer new business opportunities to existing and new market players. A market-based middleware framework has been recently proposed whereby service providers, independent of network operators, are able to tender online service contracts to network operators in a dynamic and competitive manner. This facilitates a seamless service provision over disparate networks in a consumer-centric manner. Service providers select network bearers according to the network operators' ability to meet the QoS target, which in turn is influenced, among other things, by user's price and quality requirements. The benefits of this proposal are the complementarity of numerous network resources, the decoupling of services and networks in a self-organising distributed environment, and increased competition to consumers’ advantag

Benefits of high-speed broadband for Australian households

This report from Deloitte Access Economics examines the benefits to households of high speed broadband in 2020 when the use of digital tools will be widespread across the economy. Deloitte assessed potential household benefits in the areas of communications; e-commerce; e-health; online education; e-government services; savings from an increase in telework; and the flow-on benefits to households from business productivity.Executive summaryHigh-speed broadband is transforming our economy and society, with major implications for households, business, governments and the environment.The report looks over the horizon to 2020 when Australia’s economy will be a fully digital economy, powered by the National Broadband Network (NBN). Recent developments like smartphones, apps and social media will be more deeply embedded, while video content, the cloud and machine-to-machine technologies will be widespread.Households will benefit from improved communications, greater choice and competition from e-commerce, more online services, greater employment opportunities, including through telework, and savings in time and money from reduced travel. They will also experience improvements in goods and services quality and/or lower prices as businesses take up new productivity-boosting applications of the digital economy. There will also be environmental benefits from reduced travel and other applications.Our estimate is average annual household benefits will be worth around $3,800 in 2020, in current dollars. Around two-thirds of these benefits ($2,400) are financial benefits, the rest are the equivalent monetary value of consumer benefits such as travel time savings and convenience of e-commerce. The research reported in this publication was commissioned by the Australian Government Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy. The information and opinions contained in it do not necessarily reflect the views or policy of the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy