The mitigating role of regulation on the concentric patterns of broadband diffusion. The case of Finland

This article analyzes the role of Finnish regulation in achieving the broadband penetration goals defined by the National Regulatory Authority. It is well known that in the absence of regulatory mitigation the population density has a positive effect on broadband diffusion. Hence, we measure the effect of the population density on the determinants of broadband diffusion throughout the postal codes of Finland via Geographically Weighted Regression. We suggest that the main determinants of broadband diffusion and the population density follow a spatial pattern that is either concentric with a weak/medium/strong strength or non-concentric convex/concave. Based on 10 patterns, we argue that the Finnish spectrum policy encouraged Mobile Network Operators to satisfy ambitious Universal Service Obligations without the need for a Universal Service Fund. Spectrum auctions facilitated infrastructure-based competition via equitable spectrum allocation and coverage obligation delivery via low-fee licenses. However, state subsidies for fiber deployment did not attract investment from nationwide operators due to mobile preference. These subsidies encouraged demand-driven investment, leading to the emergence of fiber consumer cooperatives. To explain this emergence, we show that when population density decreases, the level of mobile service quality decreases and community commitment increases. Hence, we recommend regulators implementing market-driven strategies for 5G to stimulate local investment. For example, by allocating the 3.5 GHz and higher bands partly through local light licensing.Comment: Accepted manuscrip

Medios de Comunicación en Internet móvil: La televisión como modelo aún pendiente de éxito

La televisión en el móvil no ha acabado de arrancar comercialmente en la mayor parte de los países europeos. No existe una única razón que explique esta situación. Antes bien, cabe referirse a un conjunto de causas complejas (e interrelacionadas). En el lado de la oferta, deben analizarse aspectos técnicos (infraestructuras, estándares), económicos (modelos de negocio, disponibilidad de contenido) y normativos. En el lado de la demanda, es necesario investigar cuál es la utilidad que el servicio realmente (y no teóricamente) ofrece al consumidor y las circunstancias en que lo usaría. El estudio de todos estos factores es el objetivo de este artículo. Se concluye que la televisión móvil asentará su presencia en el mercado sólo si se sortean algunos de los obstáculos descritos, se pone el foco en el posible usuario (y no en el producto) y se cuenta con cierto apoyo institucional

Researching Multipath TCP Adoption

International audienceThe adoption process of a new Internet protocol or only a change to an existing one is anything but trivial. The classical diffusion theory does not apply as such for studying protocol adoption because the deployment of a protocol usually requires the involvement of multiple stakeholders with varying interests. Multipath TCP (MPTCP) is a new interesting change to the TCP/IP protocol suite which is an extension to regular TCP. MPTCP exploits the idea of resource pooling principle by splitting the data of a single TCP connection across multiple paths in the Internet. The research introduced in this paper aims to identify and evaluate the incentives of different stakeholders to adopt MPTCP. This paper summarizes the proceedings in MPTCP research from the socio-economic point of view and the plans how MPTCP adoption could be studied further. Also, the main problematics of the research are discussed in the paper

Modeling the Value of End-to-End Multipath Protocols

Recently, adding multipath capability in the Internet protocol suite has attracted increasing interest. By letting end hosts discover several paths to communicate, end-to-end multipath protocols aim to improve utilization rate of Internet resources. Although many proposals for end-to-end multipath communication exist, they have not reached significant deployment. Since the multipath protocols are mainly designed for open multi-stakeholder environments, understanding their economic impact is important. This paper introduces a model for assessing the value of the end-to-end multipath protocols from the end user perspective. Without a net benefit of the end user, the end-to-end multipath communication only results in the reallocation of costs and benefits in the Internet connectivity market. The model indicates that wireless devices having access to multiple independent access operators via similar or dissimilar access technologies are crucial in achieving end user value out of multipath communication. Initially, the end user value seems higher when the radio interfaces to access operators are active one at a time but later on, along with higher-energy batteries and lower-energy protocols, full benefit of multipath communication can be achieved. The value of multipath protocols depends on the effective path diversity and available capacity on the Internet