Assessment of wireless solutions in emerging broadband markets

Although broadband markets have grown steadily since the advent of the mobile Internet, penetration levels for developing countries are far from reaching the ordinary citizen. This thesis analyses three hypotheses as bottlenecks to the growth of emerging mobile broadband markets: (i) the low competence of users, (ii) the low quality of service, (iii) the high access price and, based on the results, alternative wireless solutions are studied to accelerate the Internet diffusion. Bottleneck hypotheses are evaluated through a quantitative bottleneck analysis that includes measured mobile QoS levels and macroeconomic indicators from a total of 9 cities including emerging (6) and advanced markets (3). Provided that low quality of service and data prices are identified as the main bottlenecks, a qualitative value network analysis evaluates wireless access technologies, caching technologies, collaborative business environments and, operator revenue models seeking a cost-effective solution. As a result, the thesis concludes that the affordability of broadband Internet is limited, in the first place, by the least cost-effective network technology (network costs need to be minimized), secondly by the level of competition in the market (profits of operators need to be minimized), and finally by business models of operators which could include subsidies from advertisers, content providers, governments, or implement a freemium model (access prices are minimized)

Urban wireless traffic evolution: the role of new devices and the effect of policy

The emergence of new wireless technologies, such as the Internet of Things, allows digitalizing new and diverse urban activities. Thus, wireless traffic grows in volume and complexity, making prediction, investment planning, and regulation increasingly difficult. This article characterizes urban wireless traffic evolution, supporting operators to drive mobile network evolution and policymakers to increase national and local competitiveness. We propose a holistic method that widens previous research scope, including new devices and the effect of policy from multiple government levels. We provide an analytical formulation that combines existing complementary methods on traffic evolution research and diverse data sources. Results for a centric area of Helsinki during 2020-2030 indicate that daily volumes increase, albeit a surprisingly large part of the traffic continues to be generated by smartphones. Machine traffic gains importance, driven by surveillance video cameras and connected cars. While camera traffic is sensitive to law enforcement policies and data regulation, car traffic is less affected by transport electrification policy. High-priority traffic remains small, even under encouraging autonomous vehicle policies. We suggest that 5G small cells might be needed around 2025, albeit the utilization of novel radio technology and additional mid-band spectrum could delay this need until 2029. We argue that mobile network operators inevitably need to cooperate in constructing a single, shared small cell network to mitigate the high deployment costs of massively deploying small cells. We also provide guidance to local and national policymakers for IoT-enabled competitive gains via the mitigation of five bottlenecks. For example, local monopolies for mmWave connectivity should be facilitated on space-limited urban furniture or risk an eventual capacity crunch, slowing down digitalization

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

Local wireless access provision for rural penetration and urban diversification: A techno-economic analysis

Defence is held on 10.8.2021 12:00 – 16:00 via remote technology (Zoom), https://aalto.zoom.us/j/69085821732Wireless access services contribute to digitalization and economic growth; hence, its desirable that they become widely adopted by consumers and enterprises. These services are predominantly provided by nationwide operators, given country-level regulation and scale economies. However, their uniform offering and rigid technical solutions struggle to serve declining rural areas and competitive urban areas. This thesis studies how local wireless access provision can advance rural penetration and urban diversification by employing novel technology and introducing structural market changes. A techno-economic analysis is conducted through known and novel methods, providing empirical, managerial, and theoretical results over three logical steps. First, we identify market conditions that slow the diffusion of national services and/or enable local provision. To this end, we propose two novel methods for wireless technology diffusion investigation. One method studies national diffusion, measuring the spatial relationship between population density and diffusion determinants. When applied to the Finnish broadband, it reveals the positive role of spectrum policy on rural penetration and characterizes community commitment as a key local provision enabler. The other method investigates local diffusion, forecasting urban wireless traffic evolution, considering new devices and the role of policy. The traffic forecast of downtown Helsinki suggests that macrocell capacity may soon become fully utilized. Therefore, small cells with high deployment costs are needed to enable urban diversification. Second, we assess the feasibility of small cell and edge cloud technologies to address the identified limiting market conditions. We develop a cost model for deploying smart light poles equipped with millimeter wave cells and various sensors. The model includes novel hardware and deployment structures, cost sensitivities, and estimations for the smart city. For edge cloud technology, we assess operator adoption of a routing solution based on recent Information-Centric Networking (ICN) developments, i.e., IP-over-ICN. Benefits and challenges are identified regarding preexisting traffic and edge application provision. Finally, we evaluate local market structures that employ the previously studied technologies. We suggest that market structures around a community operator can advance rural penetration, given longer investment pay-back times, among other factors. For urban diversification, we indicate that local neutral operators can facilitate co-investment and data exchange across connectivity and data markets. Hence, local provision can mitigate initial deployment costs and promptly deliver new connectivity services when national provision struggles. We provide policy recommendations for local market structure realization

Feasibility of IP-over-ICN

| openaire: EC/H2020/643990/EU//POINT | openaire: EC/H2020/644663/EU//RIFEThe IP-over-ICN strategy intends to establish islands of networks that internally route packets based on Information-Centric Networking (ICN) while maintaining IP-based protocols at the ingress and egress of the network. This strategy aims at benefits from the use of ICN-based routing while maintaining backward compatibility with IP-based services. In the long run, an ICN-based Internet architecture may emerge from the interconnection of these ICN-based islands. We assess the feasibility of this strategy by discussing the willingness of Internet stakeholders to adopt one particular IP-over-ICN implementation based on the Publish-Subscribe Internet Technologies (PURSUIT) for flow-based routing, multicast routing, and service routing. We suggest that the IP-over-PURSUIT solution offers viable mechanisms for IP interoperability and routing scalability as well as potential advantages in comparison to substitutes, including IP-based solutions, such as IPv6; Multiprotocol Level Switching; and hybrid ICN; as well asother IP-over-ICN implementations based on Content-Centric Networking. We indicate that triple play operators and micro-operators have a greater incentive to adopt IP-over-PURSUIT since they can maximize the utilization of the multicast and service routing, respectively. However, we argue that IP-over-PURSUIT requires new exterior inter-stakeholder interfaces for significant operator traffic to be delivered through its new and cost-efficient routing capabilities, thus increasing the likelihood of operator adoption. Finally, we suggest that the advent of an ICN-based Internet architecture might be delayed until Internet stakeholders can trustworthily delegate the delivery of valuable content and services via information-based exchange points.Peer reviewe

Study of spectrum scarcity and community wireless network operators in India

The rapid development of the Indian mobile market and the proliferation of operators have increased the demand for licensed spectrum. Moreover, the utilization of allocated bands can hardly be improved given a large number of operators and the geographical division in circles. This paper analyses the scarcity of licensed spectrum in India and discusses the opportunities derived from the utilization of the unlicensed spectrum. More precisely, the paper identifies wireless community network projects that use the unlicensed spectrum. Community wireless networks can play an important role in bridging the Digital Divide in India and in extending the scarce licensed spectrum by improving the exploitation of unlicensed spectrum.Peer reviewe

An open ehealth platform for real-time professional-to-professional collaboration

Availability of high performance telemedicine systems has been for a long time a goal for most Medical Universities and Centers of Excellence. This technological advancement is considered a fundamental asset for those institutions with interest in dissemination of their expertise but also as a way to continuously keep their professionals updated on the most novel techniques. Also, second opinion type of services as well as distantly located collaborative activities in between different medical disciplines may also benefit of this technological solutions, not only in industrialized countries, where network communications are almost guaranteed, but also in developing countries, where these solutions can help improve access to specialized healthcare services. Unfortunately, it has been the case up till now, that the costs of the existing technical solutions with a high level of quality were a barrier for a number of centers. In this paper we present a HIPERMED platform, this platform holds the promise to fundamentally reverse the current state-of-affairs by facilitating access to the high quality telemedicine facilities to networked centers. This can significantly transform both professional-to-professional and professional-to-patient practices, especially in places where the access to technology has a high cost and a high impact like in Africa. Finally, we present a preliminary result above our platform, these results including the performance of the core of the platform.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

An open ehealth platform for real-time professional-to-professional collaboration

Availability of high performance telemedicine systems has been for a long time a goal for most Medical Universities and Centers of Excellence. This technological advancement is considered a fundamental asset for those institutions with interest in dissemination of their expertise but also as a way to continuously keep their professionals updated on the most novel techniques. Also, second opinion type of services as well as distantly located collaborative activities in between different medical disciplines may also benefit of this technological solutions, not only in industrialized countries, where network communications are almost guaranteed, but also in developing countries, where these solutions can help improve access to specialized healthcare services. Unfortunately, it has been the case up till now, that the costs of the existing technical solutions with a high level of quality were a barrier for a number of centers. In this paper we present a HIPERMED platform, this platform holds the promise to fundamentally reverse the current state-of-affairs by facilitating access to the high quality telemedicine facilities to networked centers. This can significantly transform both professional-to-professional and professional-to-patient practices, especially in places where the access to technology has a high cost and a high impact like in Africa. Finally, we present a preliminary result above our platform, these results including the performance of the core of the platform.Peer Reviewe

An open ehealth platform for real-time professional-to-professional collaboration

Availability of high performance telemedicine systems has been for a long time a goal for most Medical Universities and Centers of Excellence. This technological advancement is considered a fundamental asset for those institutions with interest in dissemination of their expertise but also as a way to continuously keep their professionals updated on the most novel techniques. Also, second opinion type of services as well as distantly located collaborative activities in between different medical disciplines may also benefit of this technological solutions, not only in industrialized countries, where network communications are almost guaranteed, but also in developing countries, where these solutions can help improve access to specialized healthcare services. Unfortunately, it has been the case up till now, that the costs of the existing technical solutions with a high level of quality were a barrier for a number of centers. In this paper we present a HIPERMED platform, this platform holds the promise to fundamentally reverse the current state-of-affairs by facilitating access to the high quality telemedicine facilities to networked centers. This can significantly transform both professional-to-professional and professional-to-patient practices, especially in places where the access to technology has a high cost and a high impact like in Africa. Finally, we present a preliminary result above our platform, these results including the performance of the core of the platform.Peer Reviewe