Role of access charges in the migration from copper to FTTH

We consider a horizontally and vertically differentiated duopoly model in order to analyze both intra- and inter-platform competition in an always corvered broadband access market (Copper-Copper, Copper-FTTH and FTTH-FTTH competitions). The model is purely static and does not address dynamic efficiency issues. It shows that the access charges play a significant role in the migration from copper to FTTH and in FTTH investment incentives, provided that consumers are segmented. In FTTH-infrastructure-based competition, investment incentives tend to increase with the copper access charge, while in FTTH-servicebased competition, FTTH investment incentives are much more sensitive to the FTTH access charge than to the copper access charge. A comparison of FTTH-infrastructure-based and FTTH-service-based competition in terms of nationwide FTTH coverage and social welfare indicates that FTTH-infrastructure-based competition leads to a higher level of nationwide FTTH coverage and social welfare. --

Mapping daily snow/ice shortwave broadband albedo from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS): The improved direct retrieval algorithm and validation with Greenland in situ measurement

Snow/ice albedo is a critical variable in surface energy balance calculations. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data have been used routinely to provide global land surface albedo. The MODIS algorithm includes atmospheric correction, surface reflectance angular modeling, and narrowband to broadband albedo conversion. In an earlier study, a "direct retrieval" methodology was proposed to calculate instantaneous albedo over snow and ice-covered surfaces directly from top-of-atmosphere (TOA) MODIS reflectance data. The method consists of extensive radiative transfer simulations for a variety of atmospheric and surface snow conditions and links the TOA reflectance with surface broadband albedo through regression analysis. Therefore the direct retrieval algorithm implicitly incorporates in a single step all three procedures used in the standard MODIS surface albedo algorithm. This study presents improvements to the retrieval algorithm including validation with in situ measurements distributed over the Greenland ice sheet. Comparison with surface observations demonstrates that the direct retrieval algorithm can produce very accurate daily snow/ice albedo with mean bias of less than 0.02 and residual standard error of 0.04

Welfare Cost of Mobile Spectrum (Mis)allocation

Conditions under which spectrum is allocated are significant in determining the market structure in the telecom sector which in turn affects the prices and the quality of mobile services. In a more concentrated market, the quantity of spectrum is less diluted, and operators can offer higher quality to their customers; In a more competitive market, consumers can benefit from a lower price but at the expense of less quality for each operator. To address this trade-off, we first fit a demand model of mobile telecommunications services on a unique panel database of 23 European MNOs; we then conduct counterfactual simulations to measure the effect on consumer surplus of different schemes of spectrum allocation in Germany. Reallocating additional spectrum to three instead of four operators is consumer welfare improving as increasing prices is compensated by larger improvement in quality

Broadband Internet and Income Inequality

Policy makers are aiming for a large coverage of high-speed broadband Internet. However , there is still a lack of evidence about its effects on income distribution. In this paper, we investigate the effects of fixed broadband Internet on mean income and income inequality using a unique town-level data on broadband adoption and quality in France. We find that broadband adoption and quality raise mean income and lower income inequality. These results are robust to initial conditions, and yield policy implications for the deployment of faster broadband Internet

Transition from copper to fiber broadband: the role of connection speed and switching costs

International audienceWe estimate a mixed logit model using data on choices of broadband technologies by 94,388 subscribers to a single broadband operator in a European country on a monthly basis from January to December 2014. We find that valuation of DSL connection speed in the range between 1 and 8 MB/s is very similar. Moreover, in January 2014, the valuation of FttH connection with speed of 100 MB/s is not much different than of DSL connection with speed of 1 or 8 MB/s but it increased over time. The small initial difference in valuation of DSL and FttH connections may be because basic Internet needs of consumers such as emailing, reading news, shopping, browsing and even watching videos online could be satisfied with connection speed below 8 MB/s. We also find that consumers face significant switching costs when changing broadband tariffs, which are substantially higher when switching from DSL to FttH technology. According to counterfactual simulations based on our model estimates, switching costs between technologies are the main factor which slows down transition from DSL to FttH

Bundling and Consumer Churn in Telecommunications Markets

International audienceAbstract In this paper, we analyze how fixed-mobile (quadruple-play) bundling impacts the decision of consumers to churn telecommunications services. We use a database from an European operator of fixed and mobile telecommunications services which includes information about 9.6 million fixed broadband subscribers and 14.2 million mobile subscribers between March 2014 and February 2015. These data is combined with socio-demographic characteristics from each municipality in this country. We find that consumers who bundle fixed and mobile services from the same provider are less likely to churn. Without fixed-mobile bundling the annual churn of fixed broadband consumers would increase from 8.4 to 9.2%. Furthermore, the consumer churn in the mobile market would increase from 11.5 to 13.1%. We conclude that in the current competitive environment in the country considered, bundling has a moderate impact on consumer retention on both fixed and mobile networks