Broadband Carriers Research Articles

Quantifying the Effects of Price Discrimination Under Imperfect Competition*

This article analyzes the effects of broadband carriers switching from price discrimination to uniform pricing. Broadband carriers often use third‐degree price discrimination. In Colombia, broadband carriers rely on government‐issued socio‐economic information to segment markets. I use demand and marginal cost estimates to quantify the effects of switching from price discrimination to uniform pricing in an environment of high income disparity. The results provide direct evidence of large consumer surplus transfers from poorer to wealthier households. Poorer households respond by subscribing to slower Internet plans, which may undermine prior efforts to increase download speeds in this demographic.

Symmetry and (Network) Neutrality

In Symmetry’s Mandate, Daniel Walters offers a compelling account of an asymmetry in the practice of administrative law, one that appears to favor deregulation over regulation. In this short essay, I offer one additional example of this asymmetry: In an opinion regarding the Obama Administration’s decision to promulgate network neutrality rules, then-Judge Kavanaugh suggested that Chevron’s major questions doctrine might apply to major regulatory moves, but not to major deregulatory ones. As with many of the other examples Walters offers, this one, too, seems irrational. Justice Kavanaugh’s approach favors one industry over another and favors a regressive policy regime that consolidates power in broadband carriers at the expense of consumer preferences. And so if (or when) network neutrality returns to the Judiciary, the courts should reject Justice Kavanaugh’s doctrinal suggestion in favor of a more balanced application of the major questions doctrine, one which is consonant with both good policy and institutional design, and is faithful to precedent.

Atmospheric transmission characters of broadband carriers based on supercontinuum under typical pump conditions

In this letter, the relationship between the transmission quality and the pump wavelength are experimentally studied in a wide-spectrum free-space optical communication system. We used a Raman gain soliton compression structure to generate narrow pulses with different center wavelengths and a pulse width of 2.9ps. A highly nonlinear optical fiber is pumped by the pulse laser with different powers, and then, the supercontinuum can be generated. The broadband laser is modulated by data sequence after filtering and experimentally transmit in a simulated atmospheric turbulence channel. The experimental received results show that the sensitivity can reach -34.37dBm with 30dBm pump power as 1565 nm, and 10.25dB sensitivity loss can be detected by using a non-optimal pumping wavelength and power.

A novel pricing strategy for mobile broadband carriers using two-stage Stackelberg model

The mobile data traffic experienced an explosive growth in the last decade. However, the revenues of mobile broadband carriers do not improve correspondingly. Recently, more and more content and application providers begin to deliver Internet service to users directly and gain great profits without constructing the broadband network. In this paper, we present a new business strategy that involves a priority-based pricing policy for users and a cooperation strategy for content providers and mobile broadband carriers. We propose a two-stage Stackelberg model in a duopolistic mobile network market. We find that the equal data arrival rate to the mobile broadband carriers is only one stable state in the follower game. However, both the equilibrium outcome in the leader game and the preferred strategy profile of social planner depend on customers’ preference and the revenue rate of content providers. We outline the condition under which mobile broadband carriers and social planner obtain a win-win result. More specifically, when revenue rate is sufficiently low, the carriers should adopt the non-intellectualized pricing model if the arrival rate of H-type consumers (i.e., hating to delay) is more than that of L-type consumers (i.e., indifference to delay), and pursue the intellectualized pricing model if the arrival rate of H-type consumers is less than that of L-type consumers. Otherwise, the carriers’ optimal pricing strategies may deviate from the social welfare maximizing ones. Hence, the social planner should take some regulatory policies to avoid the deviation.

The Mixed Blessing in Subsidized Internet Access

This paper will offer an unsponsored examination of current disputes whether national regulatory authorities (“NRAs”) should permit broadband carriers and content providers, such as Facebook, to subsidize broadband access to a limited, “walled garden” of content. The subsidy makes it possible for sponsored data access without debiting a monthly data allowance. Wireless subscribers, with service caps typically set at 1-5 Gigabytes allowed per month, can quickly exhaust allotment when streaming video content. The paper concludes that even though carriers and content providers serve profit maximizing goals in zero rating arrangements, the practice can have positive spillover effects including more access by impoverished users, stimulated interest in diversifying uses of wireless handsets and possible migration to broadband access options that equally support content consumption and creation. While carriers and content providers can “groom” tentative, subsidized users into paying ones, zero rating also provides first time access opportunities, particularly for individuals least able to afford even extremely low cost access options available in many lesser developed countries. Additionally zero rating can stimulate interest by consumers financially able to afford unsubsidized access, but heretofore uninterested in, or uninformed about the benefits.The paper examines zero rating without the inclination to pass judgment using an absolute either/or basis, as often occurs on issues collectively framed as network neutrality, or open Internet. A more nuanced view identifies both costs and benefits in allowing zero rating. On balance, welfare enhancing benefits appear to exceed costs, including harm to competition and some consumers. This finding grows more conclusive for developing countries where access of any type provides benefits that well exceed the costs to consumers and competition. The paper identifies ways for carriers and NRAs to limit subsidies in ways that accrue social benefits without creating an unlimited “free rider” opportunity for all wireless subscribers, regardless of ability to pay for service. The paper suggests that carriers should offer zero rating opportunities on a conditional and promotional basis thereby making it more difficult for existing subscribers simply to use zero rating access as a way to avoid paying surcharges for exceeding data caps. While NRAs should not micro-manage carriers’ service pricing, establishing qualification rules for access to zero rating fits with other universal service initiatives that rely on well calibrated and targeted subsidies to simulate broadband service demand and supply.

Grey Nuances in the Black and White Debate Over Subsidized Internet Access

This paper will offer an unsponsored examination of current disputes whether national regulatory authorities (“NRAs”) should permit broadband carriers and content providers, such as Facebook, to subsidize broadband access to a limited, “walled garden” of content. The subsidy makes it possible for sponsored data access without debiting a monthly data allowance. Wireless subscribers, with service caps typically set at 1-5 Gigabytes allowed per month, can quickly exhaust allotments when streaming video content. The paper concludes that even though carriers and content providers serve profit maximizing goals in zero rating arrangements, the practice can have positive spillover effects. Benefits include more access by impoverished users, stimulated interest in diversifying uses of wireless handsets and possible migration to broadband access options that equally support downstream content consumption and upstream dissemination. While carriers and content providers can “groom” some subsidized users into paying ones, zero rating also provides first time access opportunities, particularly for individuals least able to afford even extremely low cost access options available in many lesser developed countries. Additionally zero rating can stimulate interest by consumers financially able to afford unsubsidized access, but heretofore uninterested in, or uninformed about the benefits. The paper examines zero rating without the inclination to pass judgment using an absolute either/or basis, as often occurs on issues collectively framed as network neutrality, or open Internet. A more nuanced view identifies both costs and benefits in allowing zero rating. On balance, welfare enhancing benefits appear to exceed costs, including harm to competition and some consumers. This finding grows more conclusive for developing countries where access of any type provides benefits that well exceed the costs to consumers and competition. The paper identifies ways for carriers and NRAs to limit subsidies in ways that accrue social benefits without creating an unlimited “free rider” opportunity for all wireless subscribers, regardless of ability to pay for service. The paper suggests that carriers should offer zero rating opportunities on a conditional and promotional basis thereby making it more difficult for existing subscribers simply to use zero rating access as a way to avoid paying surcharges for exceeding data caps. While NRAs should not micro-manage carriers’ service pricing, establishing qualification rules for access to zero rating fits with other universal service initiatives that rely on well calibrated and targeted subsidies to simulate broadband service demand and supply.

Similar Mechanisms Underlie the Detection of Horizontal and Vertical Disparity Corrugations

Our aim was to compare sensitivity for horizontal and vertical disparity corrugations and to resolve whether these stimuli are processed by similar or radically different underlying mechanisms. We measure global disparity sensitivity as a function of carrier spatial frequency for equi-detectable carriers and found a similar optimal carrier relationship for vertical and horizontal stimuli. Sensitivity as a function of corrugation spatial frequency for stimuli of comparable spatial summation and composed of optimal, equi-detectable narrowband carriers did not significantly differ for vertical and horizontal stimuli. A small anisotropy was revealed when fixed, high contrast broadband carriers were used. In a separate discrimination-at-threshold experiment, multiple mechanisms of similar tuning were revealed to underlie the detection of both vertical and horizontal disparity corrugations. We conclude that the processing of the horizontal and vertical disparity corrugations occurs along similar lines.

Development and Application of an IT Artifact Measuring Customer Based Brand Equity, via Social Media Analytics

Reaching into consumers' minds and extracting knowledge about their experience during consumer – brand interaction has been one of the dominating areas of research in marketing. Attempts to provide brand equity measurements based on the consumer perspective have seen light in literature, with prevailing methods focusing on the multidimensionality of the construct and using confirmatory factor analysis with structural equations modeling for evaluation of the models. An observed challenge in traditional measures of brand equity is that they are costly to obtain and have a certain lag. This paper addresses the need to shift towards a cross section organizational approach by utilizing big data techniques through mining and analyzing brand-related information from online social networks. We describe the design and evaluation of a conceptual model of ten steps that lays out a proposed method on how social media based brand equity measures could be optioned starting from a business perspective, the technical steps necessary to construct the measure, and conclude with how the results could be interpreted. To illustrate the validity of our model, we apply a multiple case study examining customer-based brand equity for the two leading mobile broadband carriers in North America: AT&T and Verizon. Results suggest that social media can be effectively mined to measure customer based brand equity and return of investment (ROI) of marketing campaigns. Our study contributes to both the marketing and information systems literature, by shedding light on the mechanisms governing the expressions of feelings related to brands in online social media. At the same time, we provide practitioners with an actionable method for measuring customer based brand equity in marketing campaigns.

Spectral Context Affects Temporal Processing in Awake Auditory Cortex

Amplitude modulation encoding is critical for human speech perception and complex sound processing in general. The modulation transfer function (MTF) is a staple of auditory psychophysics, and has been shown to predict speech intelligibility performance in a range of adverse listening conditions and hearing impairments, including cochlear implant-supported hearing. Although both tonal and broadband carriers have been used in psychophysical studies of modulation detection and discrimination, relatively little is known about differences in the cortical representation of such signals. We obtained MTFs in response to sinusoidal amplitude modulation (SAM) for both narrowband tonal carriers and two-octave bandwidth noise carriers in the auditory core of awake squirrel monkeys. MTFs spanning modulation frequencies from 4 to 512 Hz were obtained using 16 channel linear recording arrays sampling across all cortical laminae. Carrier frequency for tonal SAM and center frequency for noise SAM was set at the estimated BF for each penetration. Changes in carrier type affected both rate and temporal MTFs in many neurons. Using spike discrimination techniques, we found that discrimination of modulation frequency was significantly better for tonal SAM than for noise SAM, though the differences were modest at the population level. Moreover, spike trains elicited by tonal and noise SAM could be readily discriminated in most cases. Collectively, our results reveal remarkable sensitivity to the spectral content of modulated signals, and indicate substantial interdependence between temporal and spectral processing in neurons of the core auditory cortex.

Temporal modulation transfer function for efficient assessment of auditory temporal resolution

Two common measures of auditory temporal resolution are the temporal modulation transfer function (TMTF) and the gap detection threshold (GDT). The current study addresses the lack of efficient psychophysical procedures for collecting TMTFs and the lack of literature on the comparisons of TMTF and GDT. Two procedures for efficient measurements of the TMTF are proposed: (1) A Bayesian procedure that adaptively chooses the stimulus modulation rate and depth to maximize the information gain from each trial and (2) a procedure that reduces the data collection to two adaptive staircase tracks. Results from experiments I and II showed that, for broadband carriers, these approaches provided similar results compared to TMTFs measured using traditional methods despite taking less than 10 min for data collection. Using these efficient procedures, TMTFs were measured from a large number of naive listeners and were compared to the gap detection thresholds collected from the same ears in experiment III. Results showed that the sensitivity parameter estimated from the TMTF measurements correlated well with the GDTs, whereas the cutoff rate is either uncorrelated or positively correlated with the gap detection threshold. These results suggest caution in interpreting a lower GDT as evidence for less sluggish temporal processing.

Reclaiming Federal Spectrum: Proposals and Recommendations

With the popularity of smartphones, tablets, Wi-Fi, and other wireless devices that require as an input transmissions over radio spectrum, the rising demand for bandwidth is rapidly using up the available supply of spectrum. Spectrum demand increases significantly every year with no end in sight, yet the “greenfields” of available and unallocated spectrum are gone. Redeployed spectrum must come from incumbent users. Today, the largest holder of spectrum appropriate for mobile broadband is the federal government, which uses spectrum for a variety of military and nonmilitary uses. Federal users generally use spectrum only lightly and the inefficiencies have triggered bipartisan calls for selling the spectrum used by federal agencies to the private sector, particularly to mobile broadband carriers. To date, reclaiming federal spectrum is a painfully slow process and billions of dollars of social welfare are lost with every year of delay. This Article examines proposals for reclaiming spectrum and puts forth some best practices to ensure more efficient use of spectrum. Policymakers should consider creating a commission with authority to require the sale of spectrum so that agency-controlled spectrum is quickly and easily redeployed to its highest-valued uses. In the long run, Congress should also require agencies to pay for the spectrum they possess, just as agencies pay market prices for other inputs.

Sensitivity to temporal modulation rate and spectral bandwidth in the human auditory system: fMRI evidence

Hierarchical models of auditory processing often posit that optimal stimuli, i.e., those eliciting a maximal neural response, will increase in bandwidth and decrease in modulation rate as one ascends the auditory neuraxis. Here, we tested how bandwidth and modulation rate interact at several loci along the human central auditory pathway using functional MRI in a cardiac-gated, sparse acquisition design. Participants listened passively to both narrowband (NB) and broadband (BB) carriers (1/4- or 4-octave pink noise), which were jittered about a mean sinusoidal amplitude modulation rate of 0, 3, 29, or 57 Hz. The jittering was introduced to minimize stimulus-specific adaptation. The results revealed a clear difference between spectral bandwidth and temporal modulation rate: sensitivity to bandwidth (BB > NB) decreased from subcortical structures to nonprimary auditory cortex, whereas sensitivity to slow modulation rates was largest in nonprimary auditory cortex and largely absent in subcortical structures. Furthermore, there was no parametric interaction between bandwidth and modulation rate. These results challenge simple hierarchical models, in that BB stimuli evoked stronger responses in primary auditory cortex (and subcortical structures) rather than nonprimary cortex. Furthermore, the strong preference for slow modulation rates in nonprimary cortex demonstrates the compelling global sensitivity of auditory cortex to modulation rates that are dominant in the principal signals that we process, e.g., speech.

Fiber in the backbone! The impact of broadband adoption on firm growth in network markets

This article examined the relationship between the adoption of technology, via the deployment of broadband, on revenue growth, which is an important measure of financial performance, of the deploying firms using panel data for all of the major local exchange carriers in the US telecommunications industry from 1988 to 2001. The sector is an important network market context where the implications of deployment have substantial salience. The results show a positive relationship between broadband deployment and carriers’ revenue growth. This result implies that encouraging the adoption and deployment of broadband technologies in addition to the benefits of the consumers and firms at the receiving end of the new technology create the potential for better financial performance for the deploying firms. These results also imply that steps that can be taken to provide incentives that will hasten the further deployment of broadband will result in gains in financial performance within the sector.

Level‐dependent changes in detection of a silent gap in fluctuating noise carriers.

Changes in detection of a silent gap in a noise carrier with increasing carrier bandwidth and level may reveal effects of basilar‐membrane nonlinearities on envelope fluctuations. Gap‐detection thresholds are higher for narrowband than broadband noise carriers due to increased confusion between the imposed gap and inherent fluctuations of the narrowband noise. For narrowband more than broadband carriers, the “effective” magnitude of envelope fluctuations may be reduced by compressive effects of the active cochlear mechanism. To test these assumptions, detection of a gap was measured in 50‐Hz‐wide and 1000‐Hz‐wide noise carriers as a function of carrier level. Younger and older adults with normal and impaired hearing listened to carriers presented in quiet and in a low‐fluctuation broadband masker. As carrier level increased, masker level also increased, maintaining a fixed difference between carrier and masker levels to minimize sensation‐level effects on gap detection. For younger adults, gap detection measured in quiet improved as expected with increasing carrier level. Further, gap detection measured in the masker improved as carrier level increased for the 50‐Hz carrier, but declined for the 1000‐Hz carrier. Discussion will focus on effects of carrier level, bandwidth, subjects’ age and thresholds, and hypothesized relations to basilar‐membrane nonlinearities. [Work supported by NIH/NIDCD.]

The Last Mile: Service Tiers Versus Infrastructure Development and the Debate on Internet Neutrality

In this article, the current debate on Internet neutrality is examined in terms of four frames: legislative reform, network economics, Internet practices and culture, and broadband policy. The paper is critical of the broadband carriers’ (telephone and cable companies) attempt to institute a “new Internet” based on discriminatory service tiers. It is vital for the Internet community to oppose the introduction of service tiers, but public debate on the future of the Internet should not be limited to the problem of service tiers. A more enlightened framework, consistent with over two decades of network policy, would re-frame the debate at the more fundamental level of infrastructure development. Policy recommendations are made to ensure adequate financing for the development of local broadband networks in the public interest.

The Supply Side of the Digital Divide: Is There Redlining in the Broadband Internet Access Market?

The newest dimension of the Digital Divide is access to broadband (high-speed) Internet service. Using a comprehensive U.S. data set covering all forms of technology (chiefly DSL and cable modem), I look for evidence of redlining, where broadband carriers avoid areas with high concentrations of poor and minority households. There is little evidence of redlining based on income or on black or Hispanic concentration. There is mixed evidence concerning redlining based on Native American or Asian concentration. Other findings: market size, education, Spanish language use, commuting distance, and Bell presence increase access probability; inner city or rural location decreases access probability.

Modeling within- and across-channel processing of amplitude modulation

Recently, a model was presented in which a modulation filterbank was introduced to analyze the envelope fluctuations at the output of each excited peripheral auditory filter [Dau et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 102, 2892–2905 (1997)]. As a decision stage, an optimal detector was applied which combines all modulation-filter outputs linearly, assuming independent observations. The model accounts for temporal modulation transfer functions (TMTF) with narrow band and broadband carriers as well as for modulation masking data. The model does not cover conditions which require across-channel processing, such as modulation detection interference (MDI). In this case, the auditory system seems to combine information across frequency channels whose responses are temporally modulated. A new modeling approach is presented that integrates the modulation-filter outputs across frequency channels prior to the decision stage, while preserving the original model’s ability to describe TMTFs and modulation masking. To further ensure the possibility of predicting spectral masking, a low-frequency part of the modulation spectrum, including the dc component, is processed separately within each peripheral channel. The model can account for the main features of MDI, but it does not account for comodulation masking release.