Access networks for mobility: a techno-economic model for broadband access technologies

The two main challenges for the access networks are the increasing bandwidth demand and mobility trends. The "triple play" services required (Internet, telephone and TV services) lead to a great increase in bandwidth demand. However, the existing access networks are not able to support this increase, and the capacity to delivery broadband services remain as a challenge ("last mile problem"). The access network remains a bottleneck in terms of the bandwidth and service quality it affords the end user. Besides the bandwidth, other great challenge to access networks is the mobility and the user need to have internet access anywhere and anytime. Then, the increasing demand of "quad-play" (also known as quadruple-play) services, including video, voice, data and mobility, have created new challenges to the modern broadband wireless/wired access networks. This document proposes a techno-economic model to support the new requirements of fixed and nomadic users

Game theoretic modeling of NGANs: impact of retail and wholesale services price variation

The increasing demand for broadband access leads operators to upgrade the existing access infrastructures (or building new access network). Broadband access networks require higher investments (especially passive infrastructures such as trenches/ducts and base station towers/masts), and before making any decision it is important to analyze all solutions. The selection of the best solution requires understanding the technical possibilities and limitations of the different access technologies, as well as understanding the costs of building and operating the networks. This study analyzes the effect of asymmetric retail and wholesale prices on operators’ NPV, profit, consumer surplus, welfare, retail market, wholesale market, and so on. For that, we propose a tehno-economic model complemented by a theoretic-game model. This tool identifies all the essential costs of building (and operating) access networks, and performs a detailed analysis and comparison of the different solutions in various scenarios. Communities, operators/service providers, and regulators can use this tool to compare different technological solutions, forecast deployment costs, compare diferente scenarios, and so on, and help them in making deployment (or regulatory) decisions. The game-theory analyses give a better understanding of the competition and its effect on the business case scenarios’ economic results

Infrastructure sharing as an opportunity to promote competition in local access networks

Telecom infrastructures are facing unprecedented challenges, with increasing demands on network capacity. Today, network operators must determine how to expand the existing access network infrastructure into networks capable of satisfying the user’s requirements. Thus, in this context, providers need to identify the technological solutions that enable them to profitably serve customers and support future needs. However, the identification of the “best” solution is a difficult task. Although the cost of bandwidth in the active layer has reduced significantly (and continually) in recent years, the cost of the civil works—such as digging and trenching—represents a major barrier for operators to deploy NGA infrastructure. Duct is a critical part of the next-generation access networks, and its sharing would reduce or eliminate this capital cost and this barrier to entry. The aim of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the economics of broadband access networks technologies (wireline and wireless), their role in the deployment of several services in different regions, and the development of competition in the access networks

Does sovereign debt ratings news spill over to international stock markets?

The evidence here indicates that sovereign debt rating and credit outlook changes of one country have an asymmetric and economically significant effect on the stock market returns of other countries over 1989-2003. There is a negative reaction of 51 basis points (two-day return spread vis-á-vis the US) to a credit ratings downgrade of one notch in a common information spillover around the world. Upgrades, however, have no significant impact on return spreads of countries abroad. Closeness (e.g., geographic proximity) and emerging market status amplify the effect of a spillover. Downgrade spillover effects at the industry level are more pronounced in traded goods and small industries.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6VCY-4MWXPV4-G/1/425660f05ca521e5322fdc58492d128

Mean-field analysis of the majority-vote model broken-ergodicity steady state

We study analytically a variant of the one-dimensional majority-vote model in which the individual retains its opinion in case there is a tie among the neighbors' opinions. The individuals are fixed in the sites of a ring of size $L$ and can interact with their nearest neighbors only. The interesting feature of this model is that it exhibits an infinity of spatially heterogeneous absorbing configurations for $L \to \infty$ whose statistical properties we probe analytically using a mean-field framework based on the decomposition of the $L$-site joint probability distribution into the $n$-contiguous-site joint distributions, the so-called $n$-site approximation. To describe the broken-ergodicity steady state of the model we solve analytically the mean-field dynamic equations for arbitrary time $t$ in the cases n=3 and 4. The asymptotic limit $t \to \infty$ reveals the mapping between the statistical properties of the random initial configurations and those of the final absorbing configurations. For the pair approximation ($n=2$) we derive that mapping using a trick that avoids solving the full dynamics. Most remarkably, we find that the predictions of the 4-site approximation reduce to those of the 3-site in the case of expectations involving three contiguous sites. In addition, those expectations fit the Monte Carlo data perfectly and so we conjecture that they are in fact the exact expectations for the one-dimensional majority-vote model

A Multiple Criteria Framework to Evaluate Bank Branch Potential Attractiveness

Remarkable progress has occurred over the years in the performance evaluation of bank branches. Even though financial measures are usually considered the most important in assessing branch viability, we posit that insufficient attention has been given to other factors that affect the branches’ potential profitability and attractiveness. Based on the integrated used of cognitive maps and MCDA techniques, we propose a framework that adds value to the way that potential attractiveness criteria to assess bank branches are selected and to the way that the trade-offs between those criteria are obtained. This framework is the result of a process involving several directors from the five largest banks operating in Portugal, and follows a constructivist approach. Our findings suggest that the use of cognitive maps systematically identifies previously omitted criteria that may assess potential attractiveness. The use of MCDA techniques may clarify and add transparency to the way trade-offs are dealt with. Advantages and disadvantages of the proposed framework are also discussed.

Can the distributional impacts of macroeconomic shocks be predicted? A comparison of the performance of macro-micro models with historical data for Brazil

What was the impact of Brazil's 1998-99 currency crisis-which resulted in a change of exchange rate regime and a large real devaluation-on the occupational structure of the labor force and the distribution of incomes? Would it have been possible to predict such effects ahead of the crisis? The authors present an integrated macro-micro model of the Brazilian economy in 1998. The model consists of an applied general equilibrium macroeconometric component, connected through a set of linkage aggregate variables to a microeconomic model of household incomes. The authors use this framework to predict the employment and distributional consequences of the 1999 Brazilian currency crisis, based on 1998 household survey data. They then test the predictive performance of the model by comparing its simulated results with the actual household survey data observed in 1999. In addition to the fully integrated macro-micro model, the authors also test the performances of the microeconometric model on its own, and of a"representative household groups"approach. They find that the integrated macro-micro econometric model, while still inaccurate on many dimensions, can actually predict the broad pattern of the incidence of changes in household incomes across the distribution reasonably well, and much better than the alternative approaches. The authors conclude that further experimentation with these tools might be of considerable potential usefulness to policymakers.Labor Policies,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Macroeconomic Management,Inequality,Economic Stabilization

Economic and risk factors of a transhipment system using electric cargo bikes for urban courier services

The distribution of goods in urban areas is a major challenge for managers in the public and private sectors, due to population growth, high density in large urban centers and, in many cases, lack of planning in urban cargo transport systems. In this context, the objective of this paper is to propose a novel collaborative urban cargo distribution system for logistics service providers, based on a transshipment terminal and usage of electric cargo bikes, highlighting the main aspects to consider on estimating its beneficial economic and environmental impacts in terms of emissions and the risk factors of the investment. The evaluation of this solution may be based on applying simple vehicle routing heuristics for assessing the distance travelled, costs and emissions. Also, a more sophisticated cost model is proposed to estimate the economic viability and risks associated to the use of electric cargo bikes. Finally, risk aspects can be evaluated through a structured methodology including both qualitative and quantitative approaches.This work has been supported by FCT -Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (Portugal) within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2019