The digital divide: Patterns, policy and scenarios for connecting the ‘final few’ in rural communities across Great Britain

The Internet can bestow significant benefits upon those who use it. The prima facie case for an urban-rural digital divide is widely acknowledged, but detailed accounts of the spatial patterns of digital communications infrastructure are rarely reported. In this paper we present original analysis of data published by the UK telecommunications regulator, Ofcom, and identify and reflect on the entrenched nature of the urban-rural digital divide in Great Britain. Drawing upon illustrative case vignettes we demonstrate the implications of digital exclusion for personal and business lives in rural, and in particular remote rural, areas. The ability of the current UK policy context to effectively address the urban-rural digital divide is reviewed and scenarios for improving digital connectivity amongst the ‘final few’, including community-led broadband, satellite broadband and mobile broadband, are considered. A call is made for digital future proofing in telecommunications policy, without which the already faster urban areas will get ‘faster, fastest’ leaving rural areas behind and an increasingly entrenched urban-rural divide

App Law Within:Rights and Regulation in the Smartphone Age

This article assesses the regulation of smartphone ‘app stores’. At the outset, the significance of smartphones and apps to the debate on Internet regulation is considered, and places in the context of the adoption of smartphones and apps. The importance (commercially and as a study in governance and control) of the iOS App Store (Apple) is highlighted, as is the need to explore forms of regulation that are not linked with a violation of competition law. Section ‘Developer-focused issues’ deals with the relationship between Apple and app developers; three themes of Apple’s Guidelines are identified (content, development and payments), and the ways in which control can be challenged (through jailbreaking, ‘web apps’ and regulatory intervention) are scrutinized. Section ‘Citizen- and consumer-focused issues’ considers three ways in which apps are already regulated by law. The focus is on the protection of consumers (particularly through the UK system for ‘premium rate services’), but a discussion of user privacy and the regulation of video games and video-on-demand services in Europe is also included. Finally, in the section ‘Conclusion’, the tension between comparatively ‘open’ and ‘closed’ app stores is highlighted; the problems of applying general provisions to emerging formats are emphasized. It is concluded that the emerging status of non-carrier app stores as neither retailer nor platform means that it is not yet possible to identify the form of regulation that is in operation, but that some steps are available to legislators that could shift the balance between closed and open model

Diseño de políticas óptimas en un entorno de convergencia de los medios de comunicación y las telecomunicaciones. Informe Final

OSIPTEL encargó a Analysys Mason Limited („Analysys Mason‟) analizar detalladamente los retos e implicaciones que presentan los servicios y tecnologías de las telecomunicaciones convergentes en el Perú desde tres puntos de vista, concretamente, tecnología, competencia y regulación. El resultado global de este proyecto es un conjunto óptimo de recomendaciones de políticas para modificar el marco regulatorio de las telecomunicaciones en el Perú. Estas recomendaciones garantizarán que el proceso de convergencia en el Perú proporcione el máximo beneficio para los consumidores y para la economía en general, mientras se cumplan los objetivos primarios de OSIPTEL, tales como incrementar el acceso y cobertura de la red, y mejorar los Indicadores Claves de Desempeño (KPI, por sus siglas en inglés) de la industria en general

European telecommunications 1 Standards and ONP - keys to the open market

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:q89/14066(European) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Cutting the cost The falling price of telephony in four European countries

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:q94/24813 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Multi-media in telecoms

SIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

UPT The key to mobility in fixed networks?

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:q95/01182 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo