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

Characterizing Smartphone Usage: Diversity and End User Context

Julkaisun kokoteksti on luettavissa vain Aalto-tunnuksilla.Please note that access to the fulltext is limited to Aalto staff and students.Mobile end user context has gained increasing attention in the mobile services industry. This article utilizes handset-based data, collected from 140 users, to examine smartphone usage in different place-related end user contexts. Smartphone usage is examined first on a high level by using smartphone usage session as a unit of analysis. Then the usage sessions are dismantled into application sessions for deeper analysis and application level study. According to the authors’ analysis, smartphone usage is highly diversified across users. For example, the daily smartphone usage time differs by orders of magnitude between users. They observed also that smartphones are used differently in different end user contexts. For example, some applications are clearly more context sensitive than others. The results imply that mobile services and applications need to adapt to user behavior in order to be personalized enough, and that context awareness can indeed be a worthwhile step towards this.Peer reviewe