Public-Private Partnerships for Broadband Diffusion: A Comparison of EU Case Studies

Abstract

Public-private partnerships (PPP) have been extremely popular as a solution to both market and government failures in the supply of public infrastructures like superfast broadband networks. The latter have often been deployed by private Design-Build-Own (DBO) initiatives, a form of PPP in which the public partner subsidises the rollout of infrastructures entirely designed, built, managed and owned by the private partner. Despite their popularity, the performance of private DBOs in broadband markets remains largely unknown. In this paper, we use the framework developed by Marsh & McConnor (2010) to explore both the development and outcomes of three private DBOs in the European Union superfast broadband market. The comparison shows that private DBOs tend to achieve their targets (programmatic success), but often fail to engage with their stakeholders and lack political support at a local level (process success). Based on these findings, we developed a conceptual model that outlines both endogenous and exogenous factors shaping the performance of private DBOs, showing that the programmatic success of these initiatives is largely affected by their process success.