Public Lecture: Government\u27s Role in Broadband

In this talk Commissioner Gillett will focus on the different roles government plays in achieving universal broadband. She will relate her public sector experience to her academic understanding of this issue by reflecting on her 2006 paper on municipal wireless broadband through the lenses of her experience as a member of Boston’s wireless task force, and her first year of service as the Commonwealth’s Telecommunications and Cable Commissioner

Disintermediating Government: The role of Open Data and Smart Infrastructure

Governments are increasingly negotiating the adoption of civic technologies to improve government functioning and to better connect with citizens. Despite the benefits of civic technology to make government more efficient, effective, and transparent, there are many challenges and even unintended outcomes to civic technology adoption. This exploratory paper presents a conceptual argument using two types of civic technology; open data and smart city infrastructure, as examples where their procurement by government can disintermediate government from citizen. This disintermediation can have both positive and negative outcomes for different parties. Four mechanisms that drive this disintermediation are discussed, including the use of legal frameworks, jumping of scales, conversion of public to private goods, and the creation of standards. These mechanisms can serve to shift the role of government from a service provider to a more background role as a data custodian or regulator, opening many opportunities for other actors, including private sector to assume critical roles in service provision

Exploring Risks in Smart City Infrastructure Projects: Municipal Broadband Initiatives

In recent years, cities are under increasing pressure to transform education, health care, transportation, civic engagement, public safety as well as other government services to maintain their competitiveness and improve citizen’s quality of life. This transformation is known as “smart city” initiatives. Broadband network infrastructure is an important underlying infrastructure for smart city projects. This study investigates risks in municipal broadband projects led by local government. Our goal is to develop a middle range theory to explain risks and their interrelationships. We first used grounded theory to identify a set of risks from archival and interview data. Next, we used revealed causal mapping analysis to develop a model of risks and their linkages. Our results suggest five risk categories: socio-political risks, approval risks, financial risks, technical risks, and partnership and resource management risks. We also found that several risk categories are intertwined. In particular, socio-political risks have impacts on other risks. Therefore, risk management and risk mitigation strategies need to take a holistic view towards all risks and their interconnections instead of focusing on each type of risks in isolation

Will they fly?: Different Forms of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in New Zealand's UFB Initiative

Starting in October 2009 with a tender ("Invitation to Participate") procedure the Ultra Fast Broadband (UFB) initiative the government of New Zealand intends to deliver fiber connections (i.e. 100Mbps/50Mbps) to 75 percent of New Zealanders by 2019. Broadband penetration levels in New Zealand have slowly been catching up compared to other high-income OECD economies. However currently it seems that the contribution of the UFB initiative to broadband penetration in New Zealand is not as expected. The article discusses the industry structure in the broadband market and the effects of regulation in New Zealand and relates this discussion to developments in the broadband sector in Europe. In this context the paper examines the different forms of PPPs in New Zealand's UFB initiative with respect to their (expected) effects on roll out of broadband in New Zealand. The paper builds on the literature on the appropriate contract choice in regulated markets (Demsetz 1968; Williamson 1976). Similar to Bettignies & Ross (2004) it focuses on the extent to which the relationship-specific investment and the complexity (or uncertainty) of the exchange environment has an impact on the form of PPPs (Bettignies & Ross 2004; Crocker & Masten 1996). It examines in greater detail the task and risk allocation in the different PPPs whereby the contracts between LFCs and CFH can be considered as a joint venture and the agreements between Chorus and CFH as more contractual forms. We conclude that problems with the UFB initiative might emerge as the demand risks are not sufficiently specified which might slow broadband adoption in New Zealand

Government policy and wireless city networks: A comparative analysis of motivations, goals, services and their relation to network structure

Wireless City Networks are a recent, but growing phenomenon. In the United States hundreds of cities are looking into the possibility of rolling out Wi-Fi or WiMax based networks over substantial parts of the city. The underlying rationale is that wireless city networks are cheap and flexible alternatives for fixed broadband networks. Cities more and more see broadband Internet access as a necessary and therefore public utility to be provided to their communities at affordable prices or even free of charge. The deployment of wireless city networks is however more than just infrastructure provision. Initiatives are linked to broader city policies related to digital divide, city renewal, stimulation of innovation, stimulation of tourism, strengthening the economic fabric of the city, etc. In this article we will argue that explicit and implicit goals are directly linked to the coverage and topology of networks, the technology used, price and service modalities, etc. Furthermore we will argue that the differences in context between the US and Europe explain the different infrastructural trajectories taken. Overall and on the basis of empirical findings we caution for the overoptimistic view that Wi -Fi-based wireless city networks are an equal alternative for providing broadband access. There are both financial and technological uncertainties, which could have a serious impact on the performance of these initiatives

Will they fly?: Different Forms of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in New Zealand's UFB Initiative

Starting in October 2009 with a tender ("Invitation to Participate") procedure the Ultra Fast Broadband (UFB) initiative the government of New Zealand intends to deliver fiber connections (i.e. 100Mbps/50Mbps) to 75 percent of New Zealanders by 2019. Broadband penetration levels in New Zealand have slowly been catching up compared to other high-income OECD economies. However currently it seems that the contribution of the UFB initiative to broadband penetration in New Zealand is not as expected. The article discusses the industry structure in the broadband market and the effects of regulation in New Zealand and relates this discussion to developments in the broadband sector in Europe. In this context the paper examines the different forms of PPPs in New Zealand's UFB initiative with respect to their (expected) effects on roll out of broadband in New Zealand. The paper builds on the literature on the appropriate contract choice in regulated markets (Demsetz 1968; Williamson 1976). Similar to Bettignies & Ross (2004) it focuses on the extent to which the relationship-specific investment and the complexity (or uncertainty) of the exchange environment has an impact on the form of PPPs (Bettignies & Ross 2004; Crocker & Masten 1996). It examines in greater detail the task and risk allocation in the different PPPs whereby the contracts between LFCs and CFH can be considered as a joint venture and the agreements between Chorus and CFH as more contractual forms. We conclude that problems with the UFB initiative might emerge as the demand risks are not sufficiently specified which might slow broadband adoption in New Zealand

Government policy and wireless city networks : a comparative analysis of motivations, goals, services and their relation to network structure

Wireless City Networks are a recent, but growing phenomenon. In the United States hundreds of cities are looking into the possibility of rolling out Wi-Fi or WiMax based networks over substantial parts of the city. The underlying rationale is that wireless city networks are cheap and flexible alternatives for fixed broadband networks. Cities more and more see broadband Internet access as a necessary and therefore public utility to be provided to their communities at affordable prices or even free of charge. The deployment of wireless city networks is however more than just infrastructure provision. Initiatives are linked to broader city policies related to digital divide, city renewal, stimulation of innovation, stimulation of tourism, strengthening the economic fabric of the city, etc. In this article we will argue that explicit and implicit goals are directly linked to the coverage and topology of networks, the technology used, price and service modalities, etc. Furthermore we will argue that the differences in context between the US and Europe explain the different infrastructural trajectories taken. Overall and on the basis of empirical findings we caution for the overoptimistic view that Wi -Fi-based wireless city networks are an equal alternative for providing broadband access. There are both financial and technological uncertainties, which could have a serious impact on the performance of these initiatives