8,098 research outputs found
Internet access and investment incentives for broadband service providers
This paper studies a model of the Internet broadband market as a platform in order to show how different pricing schemes from the so-called net neutrality may increased economic efficiency by allowing more investment of access providers and enhancing consumers surplus and social welfare. --Network neutrality,Flat rates,Termination fees
Subsidization Competition: Vitalizing the Neutral Internet
Unlike telephone operators, which pay termination fees to reach the users of
another network, Internet Content Providers (CPs) do not pay the Internet
Service Providers (ISPs) of users they reach. While the consequent cross
subsidization to CPs has nurtured content innovations at the edge of the
Internet, it reduces the investment incentives for the access ISPs to expand
capacity. As potential charges for terminating CPs' traffic are criticized
under the net neutrality debate, we propose to allow CPs to voluntarily
subsidize the usagebased fees induced by their content traffic for end-users.
We model the regulated subsidization competition among CPs under a neutral
network and show how deregulation of subsidization could increase an access
ISP's utilization and revenue, strengthening its investment incentives.
Although the competition might harm certain CPs, we find that the main cause
comes from high access prices rather than the existence of subsidization. Our
results suggest that subsidization competition will increase the
competitiveness and welfare of the Internet content market; however, regulators
might need to regulate access prices if the access ISP market is not
competitive enough. We envision that subsidization competition could become a
viable model for the future Internet
From the “broadband ditch” to the release of the 2010 US national broadband plan. A short history of the broadband penetration debate in the US
The paper provides an historical account of the policy debate that took place in the United States after the 2007 release of the OECD's broadband statistics. It explains why and in what context such a debate occurred (lack of relevant statistics from the FCC, dissatisfaction of some stakeholders with the deregulation of broadband, role of new players). The paper reviews the policy options proposed by the main players to foster the deployment of broadband, among others the potential inclusion of broadband in the scope of the US universal service, the need for a national policy, and implementation/funding issues. It puts into perspective the national broadband plan proposed by the FCC in March 2010.broadband, competition, industrial policies, government intervention, universal service, open internet, deregulation, rankings/ benchmarking countries.
Net Neutrality and Nonprofit Fundraising: Will It Affect Us, and If So How Much?
In 2015, the FCC issued its most sweeping order protecting net neutrality. Fast
forward to today’s environment in which the FCC rolled back most net neutrality protections
for consumers and producers of content on the Internet. The essence of such deregulation
is that Internet service providers can discriminate among Internet users, allowing
prioritization (for a price) in the transmission of their data. In this paper, we address
different “discrimination” policies (regulatory regimes) to determine how they could affect
nonprofits. We expect this research to inform nonprofits, policymakers, and consumers
about technology and media policy for nonprofit organizations in the future
Convergence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sectors in the East African Community (EAC): Challenges for the current legislative and regulatory frameworks and lessons from the European Union experience
The East African Community (EAC)'s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector has been confronted with the convergence phenomenon. This is a concept that describes the trend of blurring boundaries between the traditionally distinct ICT sectors, namely: Information Technology (IT), broadcasting and telecommunications. This is significant for the EAC since the driving force behind this convergence phenomenon is that of efficiency. It necessitates the need to rethink the current legislative and regulatory frameworks in the ICT sector in order to cope with this phenomenon. The need to address this is pertinent since adapting to legislative and regulatory frameworks that are fully converged will expand access to ICT, stimulate economic growth, technological advancement, and also faster integration process of the EAC. Therefore this paper aims to demonstrate the following: Implications and challenges of this trend for the EAC legislative and regulatory frameworks; the need for a common legislative and regulatory framework that is fully converged. It therefore focuses on the inadequacies of the existing legislative and regulatory frameworks and reveals the lacunae in the present frameworks and how they fail to adequately address convergence phenomenon. The paper recommends effective, workable and consistent proposals on how to address the inadequacies. This brings awareness and deepens the understanding of the regulatory convergence issues to the ICT stakeholders in the region and the challenges of convergence on the existing frameworks. This will contribute to better legislative and regulatory frameworks in the EAC ICT market. It will therefore enable the region to enjoy the benefits of convergence and minimise instances of inefficiency in regulation of these converged ICT markets. --East African Community (EAC),Legislative and Regulatory Harmonization,Convergence,Information and Communication Technology (ICT),Regulation
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