Broadband Deployment Research Articles

Promotion of high-capacity broadband in the face of increasing global stress

Promoting high-quality fixed and mobile broadband for all, at an affordable price, is an important enabler of the digital transformation of society and can help to close the digital divide. This became clearer than ever during the pandemic, when broadband access was a crucial enabler of remote work, distance learning, telemedicine and e-commerce. More recently, geopolitical tensions have compounded supply chain disruptions that were already visible during the pandemic in ways that make achievement of ubiquitous broadband even more difficult and potentially more expensive than in the past.Promotion of broadband deployment, adoption and use are all important for both fixed and mobile broadband; however, different policy levers are needed in each case, on both the supply and demand sides. The market will not always deliver complete solutions. On the supply side, there is a role for regulation, targeted industrial policy and public finance. Promotion of competition, combined with prompt and efficient provision of access to resources such as electromagnetic spectrum and access to land and rights of way, can be particularly important. The demand side calls for different measures, including ensuring not only widespread availability of personal computers or smart phones, but also training and demand aggregation. Broadband availability can potentially also be boosted by judicious use of economic recovery funds, and potentially also from new tax revenues arising from global tax reforms agreed within the G20 and the OECD.This paper seeks to provide examples of contemporary best practice, based on examples drawn primarily from countries that are members of the G20.

Exploring the heterogeneous link between broadband investment and coverage expansion using unconditional quantile regressions

One of the primary challenges of the telecommunications industry is to address the broadband connectivity divide. Policy makers, regulators, and network operators are in need to understand the amount of capital required to address this gap and generate solid evidence upon which policy options and regulatory remedies should be discussed. To date, most studies aimed at estimating the investment associated with broadband deployment have consisted in ad-hoc approaches based on cost modelling from average estimations, which lack rigor in terms of considering differences in technologies, topography, and population density. In this paper we propose a general approach, based on the use of Unconditional Quantile Regressions (UQR), that addresses the heterogeneities that arise from considering differentiated coverage targets and investment required across the different deployment phases. Our tool was found to successfully account for the increasing investment to fulfil coverage targets. Moreover, it can be applicable to a wide range of countries, as robustness checks conducted provided evidence of being suitable, to some extent, for countries with more geographic challenges (e.g., mountains, forests, etc.). On this basis, the estimated UQR coefficients were also used to simulate 4G, 5G and FTTH expansion for scenarios of accelerated deployments in Latin America, by trading off cost and target network quality requirements. We simulated some coverage goals above the current trends for 2030, targeting on average 98% of the population covered by 4G, 80% of the population covered by 5G, and two-thirds of households passed by FTTH. For the overall Latin America region, the extra capital needed above current investment trends accounts for $ 17,101 million over the period 2023–2029. Considering this challenge, potential regulatory remedies are considered.

Place‐based subsidies and employment growth in rural America: Evidence from the broadband initiatives programme

AbstractThis paper studies the labour market effects of the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP), a programme authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to promote broadband deployment, mainly in rural areas. The BIP is one of the largest USDA broadband programmes implemented to date, providing more than $3.4 billion in grants and loans in FY 2010. We investigate the impacts of BIP investments on employment outcomes in BIP‐recipient Census tracts compared to similar tracts outside of BIP project service areas between the inception of the programme in 2010 and 2019. We use a quasi‐experimental research design that combines difference‐in‐difference regression with propensity score matching estimation to identify the causal effect of the BIP investments on employment outcomes. We find that the BIP investments had a positive overall effect on employment growth that increased over time. The subsidized investments had a greater effect on employment in startups than in incumbent businesses, in the goods‐producing sector and the information and communications technology sector than other sectors, and a greater effect in micropolitan census tracts than tracts located in metropolitan areas or in small town and remote rural locations.

Beyond Funding: Barriers to Extending Broadband in the Indigenous North

Background: Policies for developing broadband in rural and remote regions typically focus on infrastructure funding. This article postulates that funding may be necessary but is often not sufficient to install and operate sustainable broadband services in these areas. Analysis: This article analyzes issues raised in recent Canadian regulatory proceedings concerning broadband deployment and evidence submitted by Indigenous and community broadband providers that serve rural and remote regions in the Canadian North. Conclusions and implications: Several suggestions are provided to improve policies designed to extend reliable and affordable broadband and to facilitate the provision of services by small and Indigenous providers. These include reconsideration of northern jurisdictions to harmonize regulations, a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission office dedicated to Indigenous issues, requirements for Indigenous consultation and training and hiring of residents, and procedures to expedite installation and procurement for Indigenous networks.

Mapping the basement of the Cerdanya Basin (eastern Pyrenees) using seismic ambient noise

Abstract. Ambient seismic noise acquired in the Cerdanya Basin (eastern Pyrenees) is used to assess the capability of different methodologies to map the geometry of a small-scale sedimentary basin. We present results based on a 1-year-long broad-band deployment covering a large part of the eastern Pyrenees and a 2-month-long high-density deployment covering the basin with interstation distances around 1.5 km. The explored techniques include autocorrelations, ambient noise Rayleigh wave tomography, horizontal-to-vertical-spectra ratio (HVSR) and band-pass-filtered ambient noise amplitude mapping. The basement depth estimations retrieved from each of these approaches, based on independent datasets and different implicit assumptions, are consistent, showing that the deeper part of the basin is located in its central part, reaching depths of 600–700 m close to the Têt fault trace bounding the Cerdanya Basin to the NE. The overall consistency between the results from all the methodologies provides solid constraints to our basement depth estimation, although significant differences arise in some areas. The results also show that, when high-density seismic data are available, HVSR and ambient noise amplitude analysis in a selected frequency band are useful tools to quickly map the sedimentary 3D geometry. Beside this methodological aspect, our results help to improve the geological characterization of the Cerdanya Basin and will provide further constraints to refine the seismic risk maps of an area of relevant touristic and economic activity.

Charting the future of optical access networks: an operator’s perspective [Invited

When an end customer praises or complains about “Internet,” the chances are the subject of the conversation is specifically the access network. Yet network operators were relatively slow introducing optical technologies into the access segment of data communications compared with backbone and metro. However, once fiber appeared in the access, the field quickly became a fertile ground of technological innovations. Based on Verizon’s experience, we analyze the operator’s broadband deployments, review the standardization landscape, and discuss recent innovations in optical access.

The Efficiency of State Aid for the Deployment of High-Speed Broadband: Evidence from the French Markets

The Efficiency of State Aid for the Deployment of High-Speed Broadband: Evidence from the French Markets

The Role of Antitrust and Pole-Attachment Oversight in TVA Broadband Deployment

The Role of Antitrust and Pole-Attachment Oversight in TVA Broadband Deployment

Towards a connected commonwealth

This paper explores the role of counties in the deployment of high-speed internet (“broadband”) networks in the United States. Counties play crucial roles in local governance, but have been absent from discussions of broadband policy, planning and deployment by both lawmakers and scholars. Rectifying this, this paper reports the results of a survey of counties in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Using thematic coding analysis, themes from our survey include (1) mapping and the ongoing issue of identifying un- and under-connected areas; (2) funding and the use of public money; (3) strategic partnerships with electric cooperatives, investor-owned ISPs, and other counties and (4) urban bias. Based on these themes, we argue that countries play three crucial, but heretofore neglected, roles in broadband deployment: funder, partner, and mobilizer. Moreover, we argue that counties are eager for greater responsibility and authority over deployment. This paper concludes with recommendations for how Virginia can amplify the roles and responsibilities of counties in broadband deployment.

Television White Space Based Broadband Network’s Coverage and CAPEX Performance for Rural Areas Connectivity in Tanzania

This study compared the CAPEX requirements for a television white space (TVWS) based broadband network and that of deploying the UMTS based mobile broadband networks to deliver broadband connectivity in areas with sparse population which characterize most of Tanzania rural. Like many developing countries, Tanzania has low Internet penetration, with penetration of just over 46% when multiple subscriptions are taken into account. The affected communities are mostly rural due to low population densities which make deployment of the mobile broadband to be much expensive in terms of costs. This limits the economic development potential in these areas given that the broadband connectivity and services is a key driver for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR or Industry 4.0) and modern digital economy. Comparative between the coverage capability of the TVWS and UMTS family of standards by considering the number of base transceiver stations (BTS) is conducted to cover a specific geographic area for three different radio operating environments namely hilly, undulating and flat terrain landscapes. The broadband connectivity data rate is defined at the receiver rate of 2 Mbps or above, and used to determine the number of BTS required for the two technologies. Results show that introducing the TVWS as a middle mile solution, cuts the number of UMTS BTS required to serve the same population by 68%, 66.7%, and 75% for the three canonical environments respectively.

The impact of broadband on poverty reduction in rural Ecuador

This study examines the impact of broadband deployment on labor income and employment (in both level and composition) in rural Ecuador. The analysis spans the 2011 to 2019 period, during which the share of rural households covered by high-speed broadband increased from 14.5% to 83%. The empirical strategy exploits variations in the timing of network deployment, as well as the fact that several rural areas remained unserved by 2019. To estimate impact, the study uses a semi-parametric alternative to the standard two-way fixed-effects (TWFE) estimator proposed by Callaway and Sant’Anna (2021). Overall, the findings indicate that broadband deployment in rural areas is associated with measurable gains in labor income and employment. Our income model estimates range from an increase of 14% to 21% above the expected level had broadband not been deployed in these areas. The impact estimates on employment are more modest, ranging from 3% to 5% (depending on the specification) above the mean employment level over the study period. Additionally, our results corroborate that ICTs help diversify employment opportunities, as the share of agricultural employment falls in the connected areas. The findings also suggest that the economic benefits associated with broadband favor younger workers, presumably because their skills better match the newly created jobs.

The Territorial and Socio-Economic Characteristics of the Digital Divide in Canada

The digital divide in Canada has gained significant attention from policymakers and the public in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic enhances the vulnerability of residents in rural and Indigenous communities that lack high-speed Internet access which affects their residents’ ability to participate in an online work and learning environment. However, digital inequalities also remain an issue in urban settings despite the physical infrastructure that is usually in place to connect to high-speed Internet. The federal government has launched several funding initiatives at the end of 2020; however, this paper argues that the current federal policy strategy to address the digital divide is insufficient. By drawing on the intersectional character of the digital divide, which is interlinked with other types of socio-economic inequalities, this paper investigates why the federal broadband development approach remains problematic. As the digital divide in Canada persists, this paper explores current federal funding initiatives and their effectiveness in supporting broadband deployment across rural and Indigenous communities. The analysis shows inequalities regarding broadband access and funding distribution in Canada which also stem from a lack of democratic efficacy during federal hearings.

Broadband access and telemedicine adoption for opioid use disorder treatment in the United States.

Buprenorphine utilization remains low in the United States. Telemedicine guidelines and flexibilities introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic provide an opportunity to increase patient access to buprenorphine. However, it is not known whether Americans without access to buprenorphine waivered provider, especially those residing in rural counties, have sufficient broadband internet access to support telemedicine. Administrative data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Buprenorphine Treatment Practitioner Locator Tool and the Fixed Broadband Deployment Data from the Federal Communications Commission are utilized to identify counties with low broadband penetration rate and the number of buprenorphine waivered providers with capacity to accept patients within a 30 miles radius. 23.9% of the US population does not have access to any buprenorphine waivered provider with a capacity to accept new patients within a 30 miles radius. In counties with low broadband penetration rate, 78.9% of residents does not have access to any buprenorphine waivered provider with patient capacity. In rural counties with low broadband penetration rate, 82.3% of the residents does not have access to any buprenorphine waivered provider with patient capacity within a 30 miles radius. Federal policy initiatives are expected to continue the COVID-19-related telehealth flexibilities and to increase the number of providers available to prescribe buprenorphine, but for that to translate into more patients utilizing treatment via telemedicine, high-speed internet access will be essential. This is particularly salient for residents in rural counties where access to both buprenorphine providers and high-speed internet access is limited.

Impact of Radio Operating Environments on Broadband Connectivity

Broadband connectivity and services commonly referred to as the Internet is the key enabling facility for the modern digital economy and the driver for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR or Industry 4.0). In Tanzania, there are over 49% Internet subscriptions for mobile broadband services using 3G UMTS and 4G standards infrastructure, which are predominantly available in urban areas. The non-urban areas remain mostly 2G coverage areas and lack mobile broadband connectivity and services. Transforming existing 2G mobile networks to broadband infrastructure can be achieved by swapping 2G sites with 3G or 4G sites or incrementally replacing 2G sites with 3G or 4G sites on demand. In this work, we investigated the performance of the UMTS family of standards to deliver broadband connectivity and services outside major towns and cities in three different radio operating environments, namely hilly, undulating and flat terrain landscapes. Results show that the achievable 3G data rate deteriorates depending on the type of operating environment as the internet user moves away from the base station. Therefore, mobile broadband deployment in non-urban areas is not simply replacement of 2G sites for 3G sites; it will require special deployment strategies to achieve a total broadband coverage.
 Keywords: Internet Services; Mobile Broadband; Radio Channel Modelling; Telecoms Industry Innovation; Sustainable Infrastructure Development

Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program (DOC)

Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program (DOC)

Fiber-broadband-internet and its regional impact—An empirical investigation

I analyze a quasi-natural experiment of fiber broadband rollout in a rural German county and investigate the impact on real estate values. I find that there are strong and significant effects of fiber broadband deployment, which indicate relevant personal benefits for customers. These findings add to the literature on the evaluation of broadband infrastructure investment.

A longitudinal analysis of broadband provision in tribal areas

While disparities in broadband in rural areas are well documented, little research exists about broadband in tribal communities. This gap means we lack information about the trajectory of broadband deployment in tribal areas. It also means we lack comparative information about the similarities or differences in the trajectory of broadband deployment in tribal areas compared to non-tribal areas (e.g. urban and rural areas). To address this gap in our knowledge, this study utilizes longitudinal tract data constructed from information in the FCC Form 477 database to analyze broadband provision in tribal areas from 2014 to 2020. Empirical results show that rural tribes may be falling further behind the rest of the nation in broadband provision, while metropolitan tribal areas now enjoy better provision levels, on average, than their non-tribal counterparts. Additionally, the nuances of broadband distributions across tribal, rural, and urban areas make clear that a one-size-fits-all policy to aid tribal communities is inappropriate to address these and other related challenges. This is especially true as concerns about the intersection of federal broadband policy with tribal sovereignty and self-determination emerge.

A tale of three datasets

Needed improvements to mobile broadband deployment require more accurate mapping of mobile coverage, especially in rural and tribal areas.

Broadband deployment and strategies in developing countries

Broadband deployment and strategies in developing countries

A preview of the broadband fabric: Opportunities and issues for researchers and policymakers

The Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability (DATA) Act signed into law in March 2020 requires the development of a national “broadband serviceable location fabric (BSLF)” containing georeferenced information on all locations where fixed broadband could be installed. This represents a significant shift from prior datasets, where broadband availability was gauged from the estimated number of people/households in each Census Block (i.e., without geolocations). The inclusion of agricultural structures is particularly important, since broadband investment in agricultural zones has been limited to date. We use an early version of the BSLF for the state of Oklahoma, produced by CostQuest Associates, to demonstrate the opportunities and issues that may arise for broadband researchers and policymakers as the DATA Act becomes reality. We highlight four main takeaways: (1) consideration of non-residential units greatly impacts overall availability estimates; (2) data quality (and quantity) varies greatly across counties; (3) BSLF residential unit counts differ from FCC or Census estimates; and (4) practitioners will still need service-area shapefiles/addresses from providers to use the fabric most effectively.